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There stood a little figure in the sun 


Page 29 


JACOB 

A LAD OF NAZARETH 


By 

MABEL GIFFORD SHINE 

It 


With Illustrations hy 
CLARENCE L. COLE 



RAND McNALLY & COMPANY 

CHICAGO 




I 




r 


Copyright, 1913, 

By Rand McNally & Company 




9^9 lilanb-gtcSIalig Vv»b» 
Chicago 



To My Pastor 

J. E. W. 

whose kindly interest and approval inspired the 
continuance of the story and whose library 
supplied necessary information of 
the Holy Land, I gratefully 
dedicate this volume 






CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Proem 

Part I 

• 9 

CHAPTER 



I. 

A Little City .... 

• 13 

II. 

The Child in the Sun 

• 27 

III. 

A Jew Bov’s Freedom Day . 

• 39 

IV. 

Jesus’s Brothers 

• 54 

V. 

Who Is He? 

. 66 

VI. 

The First Fruits . . 

. 80 


Part II 


VII. 

In the Marketplace . 

• 93 

VIII. 

Stilling the Tempest . 

109 

IX. 

A Jew Boy’s Vow . 

117 

X. 

The Desire of his Heart . 

131 

XI. 

From Nazareth to Jerusalem 

141 

XII. 

Because I Love Thee . 

160 

XIII. 

The Passover .... 

174 


Part III 


XIV. 

By Jordan’s Banks . . 

189 

XV. 

The Friend of My Youth . 

205 

XVI. 

Follow Me 

224 


7 


8 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

XVII. Following Afar Off . . 236 
XVIII. The Sermon on the Mount 247 

Part IV 

XIX. The Messiah .... 267 

XX. Feeding the Sheep . . 279 

XXL Pharisee and Publican . 293 

XXII. The Shadow OF THE Cross . 313 

XXIII. Rejected of Men . 328 

XXIV. Witness for Him! . 339 


PROEM 

G alilee, sweet Galilee! with thy blue 
lake and dazzling hills, thy snow-capped 
mountains and sheltered vales, thy broad 
Esdraelon and thy far-famed Jordan, to 
thee the heart of the great world turns. 

Blessed are thy cities, O Galilee! blessed 
and beautiful for situation! Has it not been 
said of thee, and shall it not be said of thee 
in the ages to come, that thou art “The 
Garden of Palestine”? 

Thy mountain forests; thy many hills set 
with the fig and vine and all manner of fruits; 
thy olive yards and cypress groves, pome- 
granates and stately palms; thy rich gardens 
and broad wheat fields, thy generous pastures 
that feed the cattle on a thousand hills; thy 
water springs and fountain heads, all testify 
to thy fair fame. Thou art a goodly land 
and fair to look upon; a land flowing with 
milk and honey. 

Not least among thy cities lieth Nazareth, 
set in the midst of thy glistening hills like 
an emerald-hearted rose with petals of chal- 
cedony. 

O Galilee! not for thy beauty nor thy 
bounty wilt thou be best known to the 
nations of the earth in the days to come, but 
for this: that thou gavest shelter, and thy 
love, to Jesus of Nazareth. 


9 



Part I 


FROM BETHLEHEM TO NAZARETH 


“A little child shall lead them.” 





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JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

CHAPTER I 

A LITTLE CITY 

N AZARETH! A city set on a hill, with 
higher hills all about it, reaching like 
protecting arms; at its feet, southward, a 
green bay of the great plain Esdraelon, let 
in through an opening of the hills. 

How its limestone wall glistens in the bright 
spring sunshine! See the great gates where 
the people go in and out! See the little, flat- 
roofed, limestone houses, gleaming white 
among the gardens of fruit trees, the pome- 
granates making a vivid dash of color against 
the prevailing green and white, while here 
and there groves of cypress and palm rise 
high above the trees of the gardens. Verily, 
in this little city every man sitteth under 
his own vine and flg tree. 

The only conspicuous building in the city 


2 


13 


14 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

is the synagogue, flat-roofed like the dwell- 
ings, but higher and larger and having double 
doors at the entrance. And not far from 
the synagogue is the marketplace, — a large, 
open square which is also the merrymaking 
place of the people of the city. 

Because it is spring and the month Sebat 
(the last of January and the first of February), 
all the hillsides, and the green plains in the 
valley, are aflame with scarlet anemones and 
poppies. 

Phineas and his little sister Ednah — chil- 
dren of Lois and Jotham of Nazareth — are 
climbing the steep path that leads to the city 
gate. The little one's hands are full of the 
bright blossoms. Both children are clad in 
loose white frocks, and are bareheaded and 
barefooted. The boy balances a stone water 
jar on his head, and holds in one hand a 
btmch of sweet herbs. 

‘‘Six times have I been to the spring, 
to-day,” said the boy, with a sigh. “The 
jar is heavy, and the path steep.” 


A LITTLE CITY 


15 


Little Ednah lifted a face sweet with sym- 
pathy, and reached her arms for the jar. 
'‘Ednah carry,'’ she said. 

Phineas laughed. "Better the jar could 
carry you”; and he made a feint of putting 
her into the jar, at which she shouted, and 
ran up the path, scattering scarlet blossoms 
as she went. 

Little Ednah’s face was like a bright flower, 
her voice was as blithe as a bird's, and her 
laughter like the bubbling rills that ran down 
the hillsides. Her golden-brown hair was 
tossed about her shoulders like tangled sun- 
shine. Phineas forgot his weariness as he 
watched her, and sent an answering shout 
up the path. He nearly slipped on the loose 
stones scattered so thickly all the way, but 
saved himself, and the jar which he balanced 
on his head, and picked his way more care- 
fully as he hastened to join his sister. 

Ednah did not pause until she had reached 
the "resting stone,” as they called the bit of 
rock that cropped out of the hillside not far 


i6 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


from the gate. She piled her blossoms upon 
it and clambered up beside them, laughing 
and shouting down at Phineas plodding over 
the stones. 

He came up panting, and set the jar down 
beside the stone, throwing himself on the 
green grass and regarding the spring far 
below. 

''When I build a city,” said Phineas, "I 
will have the springs on the top of the hill, 
and I will lay pipes through all the city for 
the water to run in, and the pipes shall go 
to every house.” 

"Birdies drink,” said Ednah, "and lambs, 
and—” 

"Oh, we would have the springs down 
below just the same, so all the creatures 
could drink before they climbed the hill, and 
for thirsty pilgrims, too.” 

Phineas did not speak for some moments 
after that. He was thinking of the many 
travelers who had rested under the cy- 
press tree beside the spring, and refreshed 


A LITTLE CITY 


17 


themselves with the sweet waters; of the 
many camels and donkeys that brought 
the pilgrims, of the flocks of sheep and 
goats, and the oxen, weary from turning the 
plowshare in the flelds down in the valley. 

'‘Look, sister!’* said Phineas at length, 
raising himself. "Do you see where the 
cactus hedges are higher and thicker than all 
the others? So broad are Uncle Abda’s 
fields. His gardens are the finest and his 
wheat and barley fields the largest in the 
valley.” 

Ednah nodded, absently; she was listening 
to the birds. The air was vibrant with their 
songs, every garden and grove and hedgerow 
was aflutter with wings, and Ednah now and 
then caught sight of brilliant bits of plumage 
as she looked and listened. 

"The almond grove is in blossom,” con- 
tinued Phineas, busy with his own thoughts. 
"To-morrow I am to go down with Uncle 
Abda.” 

"Take me!” cried Ednah with a sudden 


i8 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

interest, leaning farther over the rock and 
sending her gaze down to the plain where the 
twilight shadows were fast chasing away the 
sunshine. 

''Ah! the pink blossoms entice thee,’’ 
laughed Phineas. "It is too far for thy 
tender feet, but I will bring thee the blos- 
soms.” 

A great trumpet blast sent the children to 
their feet. They turned their faces toward 
the city. "I see Father Jahaza!” cried 
Ednah, clapping her hands. 

It was one of the delights of Ednah’s life 
to be the first to spy the priest on the syna- 
gogue roof, when at sunset he gave the signal 
for the laborers to leave their work. 

The sunbeams had climbed from the valley 
to the hilltop, and shone brightly on Father 
Jahaza and his silver trumpet, and on the 
cliffs beyond; and where the cliffs were steep 
and smooth they shone like burnished gold. 

The children turned again valley- ward, to 
watch the long line of laborers toiling up the 


A LITTLE CITY 


19 


rocky path. They carried their cltimsy farm- 
ing tools in their hands, and rested the primi- 
tive plows on their shoulders. There were 
women, too, with water jars on their heads. 
They had been helping in the fields, or had 
carried water to the men, and they often 
took the children with them. 

^'I cannot see Uncle Abda,” said Phineas, 
looking over the heads of the procession. 
“He will have to spend the night in the khan 
if he does not hasten. If the khan had a 
roof like those at Jerusalem, it would not 
so much matter. But the night air is too 
chill for a coverlet only. Come, we must not 
linger, or we may have to keep him company.*’ 

“I see him! I see him!” shouted Ednah, 
catching a glimpse of the familiar figure with 
its yellow robe and striped red and white 
scarf wound about the head and shoulders. 

The children scrambled down from the 
resting stone and hastened through the gate 
before the people thronged it. Through the 
shadowed archway, across the open space 


20 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


beyond, into the dim, crooked, narrow street 
the children took their way. The buildings 
were close upon the street, without so much 
as space for a step. The walls were win- 
dowless, and broken only by a narrow and 
almost invisible entrance. Besides all this, 
the streets were not clean. 

But the children were not thinking of the 
contrast between the beautiful country out- 
side, and the dim and dingy city; they were 
thinking of the evening meal and the happy 
family gathering, after it. They soon crossed 
the city and came to more scattered dwellings, 
where were the home gardens and little 
groves with the sweet air from the hills blow- 
ing through them. 

The children were passing a little cottage 
that was distinguished from the others by a 
tiny porch which had vines growing about 
it, and a small addition at the farther end, 
from which seemed to come the sound of a 
hammer. 

Ednah stood still and listened. Phineas 


A LITTLE CITY 


21 


regarded the house attentively. '‘It must 
be a carpenter who lives here,” he said. 
‘‘Every morning when I go to the hills with 
the flock I hear this same sound.” 

The children waited for Uncle Abda to 
catch up with them, that they might ask who 
lived in the little cottage. 

‘‘It is Joseph, the carpenter,” said Uncle 
Abda. 

‘‘Is he a good man? Is he kind?” ques- 
tioned Phineas. A carpenter’s shop held 
untold charms for the lad. 

‘‘All Nazareth speaks of him as a ‘just’ 
man,” was the answer. ‘‘Grave, perhaps, but 
no doubt a kind man. His wife, Mary, is 
young and beautiful, and greatly beloved.” 

A tall, broad-shouldered man of middle age 
came to the doorway, stroked his long beard, 
pulled off his leather apron, and walked 
toward the porch. Phineas was rather doubt- 
ful about venturing any advances, and he 
looked back wistfully once or twice as they 
continued their homeward way. 


22 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


Aunt Anna, Abda’s wife, met them at the 
door with a basin of water, that they might 
remove the dust from their feet before enter- 
ing the house. Uncle Abda left his sandals 
at the door and followed the children. Ednah 
was ready first, and while waiting for the 
others she studied the curious writing on the 
door posts and marveled, as she had marveled 
often before, that Phineas could read it. 
And what seemed more wonderful still, he 
had told her that she also would be able to 
read it, some day. 

On the door posts of all the houses of the 
Jews were to be found these writings, accord- 
ing to the commandment of Moses given 
him of God: 

‘‘And these words, which I command thee 
this day, shall be upon thine heart: and 
ye shall teach them unto your children. 
. . . And thou shalt write them upon 

the door posts of thine house, and upon thy 
gates.*' 

“The latter rains were so abundant we 


A LITTLE CITY 


23 


shall reap a rich harvest this season,” said 
Abda, as he crossed the threshold and seated 
himself beside a dark-browed, haggard-looking 
man who reclined on the bench that was 
built around three sides of the room. This 
man was Jotham, the father of Phineas and 
Ednah, and brother to Abda. His face grew 
yet darker at Abda’s words; he leaned more 
heavily on the cushions that supported him, 
and answered only with a heavy sigh. 

Phineas leaned against one of the stone 
pillars that supported the heavy roof, and 
regarded his father and uncle. How ema- 
ciated and feeble was the one, with the 
bitterness that rankled in his heart stamped 
on his face; the other, so strong and buoyant 
and hopeful. 

‘'Poor father!” said Phineas to himself. 
“I will take the best care I can of his little 
patch of land and his little flock, and I will 
help Uncle Abda every moment I can spare. 
Uncle Abda is so kind to make us welcome 
here.” 


24 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

Abda arose from the bench and seated 
himself on the mat spread upon the floor, 
and the others followed. Lois, the wife of 
Jotham, took a basin of water and a napkin 
and carried it to each one that he might 
wash his hands before eating, after the custom 
of the Jews. Anna, the wife of Abda, fol- 
lowed with a little table that she placed in 
the center of the circle on the mat, and then 
brought a tray with the food. 

There were hot cakes, baked in the little 
stove of stones outside the door, oranges, the 
first of the season, nuts and figs, and a little 
jar of honey. 

Phineas was proud of the oranges, for they 
had been gathered from his father’s trees. 

Uncle Abda asked the blessing and Phineas 
repeated his own special prayer that he had 
been taught to say before meat. 

Mother,” said Phineas, after a good 
many hot cakes had disappeared, ”I saw 
Joseph the carpenter to-night. He lives in 
the house with the rose vines over the door.” 


A LITTLE CITY 


25 


*'Ah! I knew Mary, his wife, when she 
was a maid. I rejoice that she is to be my 
neighbor,’' said Lois. 

“There is a lad about the age of Phineas,” 
said Abda. “They had been living in Egypt 
when they came back here several years ago.” 

“I did not know,” said Lois, “that they 
had ever left Nazareth.” 

“They went to Bethlehem to be taxed at 
the time of the great taxing, and we heard 
no more of them until they came up from 
Egypt,” said Anna. 

‘ ‘ Bethlehem ! "cried Ednah, catching eagerly 
at the word. ' ' Oh, tell the story of the Star ! ’ ’ 

So, after thanks were given, the little table 
was placed against the wall, the few dishes 
piled on the floor beside the tall water jar, 
with the bunch of herbs in its mouth to keep 
the water cool and clean, and all gathered 
outside the door while Lois told the story of 
the Star, — the Star of Bethlehem. And the 
stars of Nazareth looked down as if they, 
too, were listening. 


26 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


After the story, from the little group about 
the door and from the homes of all the Jews 
in Nazareth arose voices of praise and thanks- 
giving to the Giver of all Good. And then 
there was silence in the little city. 


CHAPTER II 


THE CHILD IN THE SUN 

J ESUS was fair like Mary, his mother, 
with a fairness no sun or wind could 
roughen. Like her, too, he was gentle and 
loving. His first lessons had been learned at 
her knee; then other lessons had been learned 
in the little shop where Joseph plied his 
hammer and saw, and something of Joseph's 
gravity rested upon his face, veiling faintly 
the sunny countenance. 

Many steps his willing feet saved his 
mother, many a time he accompanied Joseph 
on his way to his day's work, carrying a 
basket of tools or a bimdle of boards. To 
and fro he might often be seen going, from 
the yard to the shop, with burden of wood, 
or nails, or tools. Many journeys his feet 
made to the spring at the foot of the hill, 
and the little garden beyond the house owed 
its thrifty condition to his care. 


27 


28 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


Now Jesus attended the school at the 
synagogue, the only school in Nazareth. The 
Kazan, who was a sort of janitor, was the 
teacher. 

Jesus greatly loved his lessons and was 
always eager to go to the synagogue, but 
better than all else he loved the solitude of 
the mountains. Clad in his loose white linen 
tunic, with unshod feet, uncovered head, and 
his shepherd's staff in his hand, he roamed 
the hills like a child of light, and lived a 
charmed life of his own, playing with the 
lambs of the flock he tended, weaving gar- 
lands of flowers, watching the great panorama 
of nature unfolding about him, and the ever 
changing clouds high above; listening, may- 
hap, to the voices of unseen companions, while 
the breeze bared his fair brow to the sky 
and the sunshine revealed new depths in his 
dark eyes. 

Phineas and Ednah climbed the hill that 
pastured their father’s little flock. The glow 
of the blossoms all about, the brightness of 


THE CHILD IN THE SUN 29 

the sky, and the sweetness of the air made 
them happy, and they laughed and sang as 
they climbed, for pure gladness of heart. 

''Look, brother!” cried Ednah, abruptly 
halting, and pointing to the hilltop. 

There stood a little figure in the sun, or so 
it appeared, the sun being behind it and the 
light radiating all about. It seemed to 
belong to the sky more than to the green 
earth beneath its feet. Might not the next 
breeze waft it from their astonished gaze? 
Might not that low-drifting, transparent 
cloud be waiting to receive it out of their 
sight? 

But the sun-bright little figure did not 
vanish into the sun or the cloud; it came 
toward them. And the two children waited 
under a friendly olive tree, regarding the 
vision at first with awe, then wonder, and 
lastly with childish curiosity. 

As the lad drew near, the children were 
reassured by his gentle mien and his bright 
and loving countenance. They could see 
3 


30 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

now that he had a wreath of the scarlet 
anemones on his head, and carried in his 
arms a little lamb that looked up trustingly 
into his face while he regarded it tenderly, 
glancing from it to Phineas and Ednah, with 
a glad recognition in his eyes. 

Phineas did not return the glance in kind. 
He rose, holding his sister by the hand, and 
with a somewhat haughty air awaited the 
lad's nearer approach. 

Peace be to thee!" said the little stranger, 
simply, but in a voice so sweet, and with so 
loving a look, that Ednah took a step toward 
him and stretched out her free hand. 

Phineas drew her back. "Verily," he 
thought, "this lad is a Samaritan." What 
Jew would have aught to do with a Samaritan? 
Moreover, he took offense at the stranger's 
friendliness. 

"Who art thou?" he demanded. 

"Jesus, of Nazareth," was the gentle reply. 

"/ am a Jew," said Phineas, proudly, "the 
son of a Pharisee." 


THE CHILD IN THE SUN 31 

''I too am a Jew/’ said the other, smiling 
and holding out his hand in friendly salute. 
“Dost see the house of Joseph the carpenter 
yonder, through the fig trees of the garden? 
There I dwell.” 

Little Ednah had pulled her hand from her 
brother’s, and looking up into the stranger’s 
face as trustingly as the lamb he clasped in 
his arms she lisped, “I love you.” 

“And I love thee, little one,” the lad 
answered, bending over the lamb to smile 
down upon her. 

One of the blood-red blossoms in the gar- 
land on the lad’s head fell from its place and 
rested on his foot. Little Ednah knelt down 
and gathered the blossom in her chubby 
brown hands, kissing the spot where it had 
fallen. 

Seeing this, Jesus took the wreath from 
his head and gave it to her. She did not 
pluck it in pieces, but held it reverently, not 
even putting it on her own head. 

Phineas, now reassured that the newcomer 


32 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


was a Jew, became friendly, and the three 
sat down on the grass knoll under the olive 
tree, whose gnarled and twisted branches 
gave a grateful shade. Now and then the 
silvery green leaves lifted up and rustled, as 
if showering blessings on the young heads 
beneath. 

lately came from Cana of Galilee,*' said 
Phineas. ''My father's health is broken. 
He was at Jerusalem at the uprising of our 
people, and being taken with the rest, he 
barely escaped with his life. The governor 
gave him his life, but took away his living, — 
his cattle and his lands, his house and all it 
contained. He says it was lost in a good 
cause, though he thinks the Jews were not 
wise to rebel at that time. He says the 
Messiah must first come, and the time to 
strike will be when he says strike!" 

"Tell the story of the Star!" begged Ednah, 
her face beginning to glow. 

Jesus held the lamb closer in his arms, and 
leaned his face nearer, while Phineas began: 


THE CHILD IN THE SUN 33 


'‘It was the time of the great taxing. 
Every Jew was called to his own country to 
be taxed. One morning, early, some shep- 
herds from the hills came to Bethlehem, which 
is just across the valley southeast of Jerusalem, 
asking for the Christ, who, they said, was to 
be found wrapped in swaddling clothes and 
lying in a manger. 

“There was a great cave that sheltered 
cattle, and that the people lodged in when the 
inn was full. They took the shepherds to the 
cave, and there found a little babe, as they 
had said. 

“ ‘It is the Christ!’ they cried; and they 
fell on their knees and worshiped the babe. 

“When the shepherds came out, all the 
people in the inn crowded about to question 
them. And they told of a great light that 
burst upon them in the night, and of an angel 
that appeared and talked with them. And 
the angel said, ‘Fear not; for, behold, I bring 
you good tidings of great joy, which shall 
be to all people: for unto you is born this 


34 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

day in the city of David a Saviour, which is 
Christ the Lord. 

'' 'And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye 
shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling 
clothes, lying in a manger.’, 

"And then there was a great multitude of 
angels with the angel that was speaking, and 
they all cried out, ' Glory to God in the high- 
est, and on earth peace, good will toward 
men.’ 

"The people in the inn had seen a great 
light in the sky in the night, and they greatly 
wondered at the shepherds’ story. Many 
went to the cave that day, and the next, and 
many days after. Some believed the shep- 
herds; but more did not believe, and laughed.” 

"What thinkest thou?” asked Jesus, softly 
stroking the lamb’s head and looking into 
its face. 

"When the Messiah cometh he will be 
bom in Bethlehem, for the Rabbis searched 
the Sacred Rolls and found the prophecy; 
but he will be royally born, for he is to be of 


THE CHILD IN THE SUN 35 


the house and lineage of David/' said Phineas 
proudly. ‘^He will do wonders and miracles 
and amaze the world, and he will ascend to 
his throne as King of the Jews, and he will 
restore the Jews to power.” 

That,” said Ednah, who had been listening 
with parted lips and rapt countenance, ''is 
the angel story; now tell the Star"' 

"The ‘angel story' comes first, so I tell it 
first,” said Phineas. "After the shepherds’ 
visit, some Magi came from the far east to 
Jerusalem. Of all the pilgrims that came to 
Jerusalem none were ever seen like these 
wise men. Their rich robes, their big white 
camels with silver bells that tinkled as they 
walked, the awnings of silk, and buckles and 
fringes of gold, as well as the strangeness 
of their costumes, caused every one to look 
after them. But when they began to inquire 
for ‘one who is bom King of the Jews,' the 
people were astonished beyond means. 

“No one could tell; no one knew aught of 
any king of the Jews other than Herod. 


36 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

‘We saw his Star,’ they said, ‘and are 
come to worship him.’ 

“Then the' people sent the wise men to 
Herod. And Herod called together the 
learned masters, the priests and scribes, and 
asked them where it was told that Christ 
should be bom. Then it was they searched 
the books of the prophets and found that it 
was to be at Bethlehem. 

“Then King Herod sent the wise men to 
Bethlehem, and commanded them to bring 
him word if they found the child they were 
seeking. 

“They followed the Star imtil they came 
to the cave that the shepherds had visited. 
They worshiped the little babe there, even 
as the shepherds had, and gave it costly 
gifts, and went away praising God and 
greatly rejoicing. 

“But they did not return to King Herod, 
and he was so afraid of this child, regarding 
whom the prophets of old had prophesied, 
and whom the Magi had discovered, that he 


THE CHILD IN THE SUN 37 

destroyed all the little children. And people 
made haste to get away from the city, and 
hid themselves, and no one ever saw more of 
the babe.” 

Little Ednah drew a long, quivering breath, 
and there was a long silence under the olive. 
A swift, skimming the hills, darted so close 
that the children started up. 

”But thou,” began Phineas, abruptly, 
‘'thou hast not said; is Nazareth the place 
of thy nativity?” 

“Nay,” answered Jesus, “I was born in 
Bethlehem.” 

“In Bethlehem of Judea?” cried Phineas. 
“Tell me the number of years.” 

“Twelve.” 

“The same as mine,” said Phineas. He 
regarded Jesus thoughtfully for a moment. 
“Then thou wast in Bethlehem at the time 
the shepherds and the Magi sought the Christ 
there.” 

“Even so.” Jesus gently smoothed little 
Ednah's sunny locks with his hand. 


38 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


'‘Then thy people also fled to preserve thy 
life. Where did they make their home?’’ 

“In Egypt. The day wanes,” said Jesus, 
rising and turning his face to the west, now 
flaming with the heavenly colors of the sun- 
set; “let us go hence.” 


CHAPTER III 

A JEW boy’s freedom DAY 
HE first thing a Jew boy does when he 



-I- awakes in the morning is to turn his 
thoughts to God, and repeat a prayer. 

In Phineas’s time the Jews had so many 
prayers and laws that they had come to 
think if they were careful of the outward 
observance it did not matter what other 
things they did, or what wicked feelings and 
thoughts they harbored. 

They had, besides the laws of Moses, many 
rules the Rabbis had made which were as 
binding as the former. These rules multiplied 
so fast that a devout Jew was kept busy 
attending to them. He could hardly speak 
or move without having to remember some 
one of them. 

So Jesus in the house of Joseph the car- 
penter, and Phineas in his uncle’s home, 
began their day with words like these: 


39 


40 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

''My God, the soul which thou hast given 
me is clean. Thou hast created it. While 
this soul lives I will thank thee, O Eternal 
One, my God, and the God of my fathers. 
Lord of all worlds. King of all souls, all praise 
be to thee!” 

The bath is then taken, according to pre- 
scribed rules, and more prayers repeated. 

Phineas awoke one bright morning in the 
month Abib (the last of March and the first 
of April) when all Galilee is like a great gar- 
den, and the air is full of the melody of 
running brooks and songs of birds, and he 
said his prayer with a very glad heart. Then 
he put on the tallith, which every Jew boy 
wears from infancy and never puts on without 
this prayer: 

"Blessed art thou. King of the Universe, 
who hast sanctified us with thy command- 
ments!” 

The tallith is a little white scarf striped 
with red, purple, and blue, having on each 
corner a blue tassel of exactly eight threads. 


A JEW BOY’S FREEDOM DAY 41 

It must be made all of wool, and by no one 
but a Jew. The tallith was worn according 
to the commandment of Moses, that all Jews 
might ^‘remember all the commandments of 
the Lord to do them.” 

Oftener than usual Phineas kissed his 
tallith this morning, for he was glad of heart. 
Was it not a grand thing to be a Jew, and 
the son of a Pharisee? Had he not learned 
by heart all the Scriptures and the Law his 
mother had taught him? Had he not been 
to the synagogue since he was ten years old 
and studied the Sc’hma with the Hazan? 

But more than all this, was not this day 
the Sabbath of his freedom? There would 
be a priest at the synagogue to make him a 
Son of the Law. No longer would he be a 
child, but a young man. He would be free 
to come and go as he pleased, and he would 
be responsible for his soul’s welfare. He 
would no longer repeat the Sc’hma morning 
and evening at home but at the synagogue, 
and he would study no more with the Hazan 


42 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

but with the Rabbis, or masters, at Jerusalem. 
He would choose a trade now, too, and begin 
to earn his own living. 

No wonder his heart beat high, and his 
hands were not quite steady as he took the 
white robe his mother had woven in prepara- 
tion for this day. Fine, and white as fuller 
could whiten it, he put it on with a prayer, 
and fastened it with a cord of gold. Outside 
this he threw a scarf, which was a larger 
tallith worn by devout Jews that they might 
press it to their lips while at prayer in the 
synagogue. 

A Jewish woman has little to do on the 
Sabbath, for work is forbidden, and prepara- 
tion must be made on the day before, which 
is Friday, the Jews' Sabbath being Saturday. 
So the whole household was soon ready to go 
to the synagogue. 

Women must take the back streets on a 
Sabbath. Phineas, who had always been 
with them, was other-minded to-day. While 
they were fastening their sandals at the 


A JEW BOY’S FREEDOM DAY 43 

threshold he looked this way and that, then 
said, a little roughly, because he was half 
ashamed, “Mother, go thou thy way, thou 
and the little one. I will meet thee at the 
gate.’’ 

And the mother, Lois, drew her veil closer, 
and went her way, with Ednah clinging to 
her hand and looking wistfully after her 
brother. The paved streets of the city were 
rough and narrow, crooked and dark, but 
the back ways were poorer still. 

Phineas walked proudly beside his Uncle 
Abda, but did not speak much; for a Jew 
must not converse on the way to the syna- 
gogue of a Sabbath, but must give his thoughts 
to God. 

“Blessed be the name of our father Ezra,” 
prayed Phineas, “who read the Law to our 
people in exile when they had forgotten their 
own language, and were like to forget God; 
and hired interpreters to repeat it in Syro- 
Chaldaic, and also put the people in mind to 
build synagogues that those living far from 


44 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

the Temple might have places of worship.” 

At the gate he waited, and saw his mother 
and Ednah, his Aunt Anna with her two 
little sons, and with them his new playmate, 
Jesus, and Mary and Joseph. 

Phineas frowned as he watched them near- 
ing the gate. Why did Jesus and Joseph 
take the back streets? Certainly they were 
not devout Jews. 

But there were other reasons why Phineas 
frowned. The first cloud had fallen on his 
day. He remembered that Jesus had far 
outstripped him in his lessons, and was far 
advanced in the Talmud when he began 
the Commandments. 

, Inside the gate the men, and the women 
and children, separated, the latter going into 
the women’s court, which is separated from 
the men’s by a lattice. 

They were early. Phineas seated himself 
on one of the mats that covered the floor. 
The floor was paved with slabs of the same 
limestone as was used in the building. He 


A JEW BOY’S FREEDOM DAY 45 

watched the people coming in with slow 
Sabbath steps — the Pharisees with uplifted 
faces and haughty bearing, the Gentiles with 
bowed heads and humble mien, and the rich 
Sadducees with embroidered robes and gold 
fringes — the bold Sadducees, who believe 
nothing but the Law and the prophets, 
rejecting all the sayings of the Rabbis; the 
fiery Zealot, the terror of the Romans; the 
despised and hated publican; the haggard 
Nazarite, with his dingy robe and his long, 
matted hair which will go uncombed and 
uncut while his vow lasts. He, too, is de- 
spised, because he rejects the Books of Moses. 

There were always strangers at Nazareth, 
. for it was the crossroads of several highways 
that led to all parts of the country, and the 
gatherings at the synagogue were motley. 

Phineas, seeing several Samaritans seat 
themselves near him, rose and looked for a 
seat nearer the raised platform just beyond 
the center of the room, where the reader and 

speakers stood during service. 

4 


46 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

As he did so, he became aware of Jesus at 
his right hand. He touched him on the 
shoulder, glancing back toward the Samari- 
tans. ‘'Come forward,” he said; “we shall 
be polluted.” And he drew his white robe 
about him and waited for Jesus to follow. 
But he did not. 

Phineas remembered that Jesus had lived 
in Egypt. Was it possible he did not know 
that, of all people, the Samaritan Jews were 
most hated and despised by the Jews? He 
leaned forward and said slowly, “The Jews 
have no dealings with the Samaritans. They 
are unclean.” 

Still Jesus did not move from his place, 
only regarded the Samaritans attentively ; 
while Phineas, not a little disturbed, chose a 
location better suited to his mind. Here he 
watched the Rabbis and elders take the 
cushioned seats — the “chief seats” — before 
the shrine, facing the people. His heart 
swelled as he thought proudly of the time 
when he should take his place among them. 


A JEW BOY’S FREEDOM DAY 47 

He glanced toward the lattice, and thought 
what an honor he would be to his family, 
what an honor he would be to the Jews. 

Two rows of stone pillars supported the 
roof of the synagogue, and against one of 
these pillars leaned a youth who seemed to 
Phineas to be mocking. 

*^The vile publican’s son, the taxgatherer’s 
son!” he muttered. But the service was 
beginning, and he turned his attention toward 
the shrine. The Kazan closed the doors, 
and all the people rose and stood for some 
moments in silent prayer, their faces toward 
the shrine, which looks to Jerusalem. 

While the people are still standing — they 
stand during all the prayers — the reader, who 
is some one chosen for the day, takes his place 
on the platform and recites a prayer of 
adoration, and the people to this and to all 
the prayers respond, ''Amen.” 

Any one who had been made a Son of the 
Law might be chosen to read; and Phineas 
would like to be chosen to stand there and 


48 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


read the lesson for the day. He watched 
attentively while the Hazan brought the 
Sacred Rolls from the shrine, removed the 
gold-embroidered cover of silk and the inner 
cover of linen, found the lesson, and placed 
the roll in the reader’s hands. 

The Hazan — minister, besides being sex- 
ton — was required to aid in the leading of 
the prayers and the chanting, when needed. 
This he did to-day, leading the prayers to 
assist the reader, and chanting to swell the 
chorus on this special occasion. 

Phineas listened to the various readings 
from the Scripture with increasing heart 
beats, for every verse brought nearer that, 
to him, momentous part of the service — his 
consecration. The last six Psalms, which 
are the concluding of the reading, never 
seemed so short, and the prayer that finished 
this introductory part of the order of worship, 
which was a very long prayer, seemed but a 
moment in duration. 

The two lads were now led forward, and 


A JEW BOY’S FREEDOM DAY 49 

a Rabbi and a priest who had come from 
Jerusalem bound the tephillin, or phylac- 
teries,” on the forehead and arm of each, with 
appropriate prayers, and then they were 
pronounced Sons of the Law. 

Every morning during prayers they would 
be required to wear the phylacteries. They 
were to be put on at the door of the syna- 
gogue. Some very self-righteous Pharisees 
put them on in the streets, to be seen of men. 

The priests showed the lads the four com- 
partments in the little parchment boxes, and 
unfolded the slips of parchment in each, 
having verses of Scripture inscribed on them. 
With great reverence they regarded the letter 
stamped on two sides of the little box, which 
stood for the name of the Almighty. 

The second box, which was for the arm, 
was not divided. The same verses were 
written on one slip of parchment, in four 
columns. 

After the lads had examined the boxes 
they were closed and bound in place by long 


50 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


leather thongs, one on the forehead between 
the eyes, and the other on the left arm. The 
thongs were wotmd seven times round the 
arm and three times round the middle finger. 

The two white-robed figures returned to 
their places; Phineas’s face glowed with zeal 
and pride, but the face of Jesus glowed as with 
an inward light shining through, and his head 
was a little bowed, like one in a revery. 

As he took his seat, Phineas glanced over 
the congregation. All the strict Jews wore 
white, and he sighed at the parti-colored gar- 
ments with a sprinkling of white. .His sigh 
was deeper for that his uncle’s family were 
not among the white-robed. He scarcely 
heard the reading and the prayer that marked 
the beginning of the regular service, but 
roused himself to take part in the responsive 
service, or Kadish, and was careful to bow 
his head with the rest at every response. 

After two prayers, Phineas roused himself 
again to join in repeating the verses that every 
Jew said morning and evening every day, 


A JEW BOY’S FREEDOM DAY 51 


either at home or at the synagogue, and the 
Eighteen Benedictions which were repeated 
three times every day by faithful Jews. 
They were repeated softly by the people, and 
then aloud by the reader, all bending the 
knee and bowing their faces to the earth at 
the beginning and close of the first and 
sixteenth verses. 

The first three benedictions were prayers 
of praise, the last three of thanksgiving, and 
the others, prayers for the nation and for 
individuals. 

Even after this Phineas had not time to 
dream, for there were more responses and then 
a short sermon especially for the youth of the 
congregation. 

Two women, the mothers of the two lads, 
had been watching behind the lattice through 
the whole service. With every thread of 
Phineas’s white garment had been woven 
proud hopes, joy, and prayers. With the 
white garment of Mary’s son, what thoughts 
and feelings were interwoven? 


52 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


The priest had pronounced the benediction 
and the people began to file out, halting in 
the outer court for their sandals. Jesus and 
Phineas were such a contrast to each other 
that many turned and looked after them as 
they passed out side by side, and more than 
one said, '‘He is not like the Jews, yet he is 
a Jew,’' meaning Jesus. And many that 
looked would turn again some day in the 
far future, and think, if they did not speak, 
the same words. 

“Knowest thou not,” said Phineas, when 
they were in the street, “that we Jews abhor 
the Samaritans?” 

“Aye, I know,” answered Jesus. 

“Knowest thou not that they are defiled, 
having intermixed with heathen nations, 
and that the Judean Jews refused to unite 
with them?” 

“Aye,” was the answer. 

“Knowest thou not that they regard the 
house at Gerizim as holier than the Temple? ” 

“Aye.” 


A JEW BOY’S FREEDOM DAY 53 


Phineas walked on in silence after this, 
greatly perplexed. Now and then he cast 
a glance at his companion, as if seeking in 
his face an explanation of his seeming indiffer- 
ence. But the quiet, untroubled countenance, 
with the glow of a steady inner light shining 
through, baffled him. 

^'A Jew, yet not a Jew,” he said. 


CHAPTER IV 


JESUS’S BROTHERS 

L ittle Ednah was returning from an 
errand to the town when she saw ahead 
of her a well-known figure, with a basket on 
its arm. '' It is Jesus,” she said, and hastened 
her steps, but did not overtake him. 

They were nearing the carpenter’s house, 
and through the vines of the porch Ednah 
caught a glimpse of a blue robe, then saw 
Mary come down to the gate to meet her 
son. She saw the loving looks they exchanged 
as the mother put her arms about his shoul- 
ders and kissed his forehead. 

Ednah stopped at the gate, and looked 
in with a happy, dimpled face. ''I spinned 
to-day, like mother,” she lisped, quite bub- 
bling over with delight at the remembrance. 

Well done, little one!” said Mary, putting 
an arm about Ednah, while she kissed the 


54 


JESUS’S BROTHERS 55 

dimples; then, taking the tiny hand in hers, 
the three went on to the porch. 

'‘This was my lesson to-day,” said Ednah 
to Jesus, when they were seated, Ednah 
happily on Mary’s knee. 

She searched in her frock and drew forth a 
crumpled bit of parchment. Mary smoothed 
it out and read: 

” 'A good life is better than high birth.’ ” 

"Even so,” Jesus replied. 

"Would Phineas like it?” asked Ednah. 

"Tell him,” said Jesus. 

"Yesterday he was angry,” faltered Ednah, 
offering another bit, more crumpled than the 
first. "A proud man is no better than an 
idolater,” was written on this. Mary smiled. 
Ednah slipped to her feet, suddenly remem- 
bering the errand, and eager to show her new 
lesson to her brother. She was a gentle 
little soul, craving love from every one, and 
would share everything of her life with her 
brother. 

Phineas had just returned from the field 


56 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

and was about to go for the flock. Ednah 
ran to him with her bit of parchment. He 
glanced at it, tossed it down to her, and walked 
away without a word. 

Ednah, with a grieved face, ran by the 
house and out into the garden, hiding herself 
under a pink-blossomed juniper bush. ''He 
is not like Jesus,” she said. "Love is better 
than pride. I will be like Jesus.” 

Phineas, meanwhile, had called his cousins, 
and the three crossed the city and climbed 
the hill beyond it, calling the sheep as they 
climbed. 

Omri chatted of the morrow; Thursday 
would be market day. Tuesdays and Thurs- 
days both were market days, and brought 
many strangers to the town. "Look, look!” 
cried Omri. "There comes Jesus! Is it a 
lamb in his arms?” 

The three descended the hill until they 
came to the ancient olive tree, their favorite 
resting place, and there waited for the lad to 
come up. 


JESUS’S BROTHERS 57 

^'Why, it is a little child!” said Omri, as 
Jesus drew nearer. 

‘‘Is he hurt?” asked Phineas. 

“Oh, no,” said Regem; “he is only tired. 
Jesus often takes the little ones with him. 
They all love him, and he takes them in his 
arms when they are weary.” 

“There will be pilgrims on their way to 
Jerusalem, in the marketplace to-morrow,” 
said Phineas, when Jesus had joined the 
group. “Uncle Abda has honey and figs 
and olives to send to the merchants. If he 
would but go to the Passover!” 

“He is always too busy,” said Omri. 

“He is no Jew!” cried Phineas, sharply. 
It was his favorite expression of disapproval. 

“He is an upright man,” said Jesus. 

“He is not just!” said Phineas, with no 
little bitterness. “He should send me. I 
am now a Son of the Law. But he will not 
consent. I am free, but I am subject still 
to my uncle. Joseph,” he added, “is a just 
man; he will do justly by you.” 


58 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

‘H go to the Passover,” answered Jesus. 

''You will see the masters,” said Phineas, 
''the Rabbis, and lawyers, perhaps the great 
Hillel and Shammai.” 

''And the Temple gold, and the king’s 
ivory palace, and David’s tower,” said Omri. 

"And Bethlehem, where the shepherds and 
the wise men found the babe,” said Regem. 

"I shall go some day,” said Phineas. 
"When my father recovers his health I shall 
be a scribe, and I shall go to Jerusalem and 
become a Rabbi. What will you do?” turn- 
ing to Jesus. 

"I must be about my Father’s business,” 
was the quiet answer. 

"Oh! a carpenter!” There was a peculiar 
inflection in Phineas’s voice. To think of a 
youth with no higher ambition than to become 
a carpenter! 

The Jewish law obliged every youth to 
learn a trade and to work at it. Some were 
carpenters, some farmers, some millers, ma- 
sons, surveyors, scribes. So while Phineas 


JESUS’S BROTHERS 


59 


aimed to become a learned Rabbi, he knew 
he must choose some means of earning a 
livelihood, and he chose to be a scribe. The 
scribes copied the Scriptures and the Law from 
the original Hebrew, for there were no printing 
houses and no books in those days. Parch- 
ment rolls were precious and expensive, 
having to be done by hand. 

The scribes had written so many comments 
on the Scriptures that many of the original 
commands were forgotten, and the words of 
the scribes learned instead. The scribes also 
read the Scriptures and expounded them in 
the Temple and at the synagogues. 

Besides the comments, there were a great 
many sayings of the Rabbis, chief priests, and 
elders that never had been written, but were 
learned by word of mouth, which was no 
light task. All this the Rabbis taught in the 
colleges at Jerusalem. 

Omri was a little mystified that Jesus did 
not express a desire to become a Rabbi; for 
he had heard the Hazan tell his Uncle Jotham 


6o JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

how fast he learned, and how wonderftilly 
he understood. 

On their way home that night they were 
surrounded by a dozen Gentile lads, who 
clamored for Jesus to join them the next day 
in their sports on the public playgrounds. 

As soon as they had secured his assent, they 
quickly dispersed. Phineas threw his head 
high in haughty disapproval, and after a 
silence the younger lads dared not break, he 
turned to Jesus. 

^‘It is not meet for a Jew to mingle with 
the Gentiles! That thou knowest!’' 

^‘They are my brethren,’’ said Jesus. 

Phineas looked at him in astonishment, 
and knew not what to say. 

Suddenly there was a great uproar in the 
street ahead of them. The dogs and the 
children, that are lying and playing about in 
every corner of the cities of Palestine, were 
not wanting here, and they rushed to the 
scene of the disturbance. The shopkeepers 
ran out and looked up the street. A solemn 


JESUS’S BROTHERS 


6i 


donkey with loaded panniers, that had been 
decorously pacing the street, grew excited, 
and oranges and lemons, raisins, figs, and 
dates were tumbled out and rolled all ways, 
to the delight of the children and the dis- 
traction of the man servant in charge of 
the goods. 

Phineas and his companions made their 
way through the crowd of children, dogs, and 
idlers, while the flock of sheep scattered this 
way and that in helpless confusion. In the 
middle of the street were two burly, rough 
lads, fighting. Their faces were red with 
anger and struggling, their eyes like coals of 
fire. They rolled about on the pavement, 
and into the gutter. Each was muttering 
curses, and attempting to hold his enemy 
down. 

As they sprang to their feet for a fresh 
attack, Jesus placed a hand on a shoulder 
of each, and spoke to them in a low voice. 

Omri cried out, fearing the fierce fellows, 
in their blind anger, would turn on any one 

5 


62 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

who dared interfere. But to the surprise of 
all the onlookers the clenched hands raised 
for merciless blows dropped; the fire in their 
eyes burned down; they looked at each other 
in a half-bullying, half-shamefaced manner, 
then turned and went their ways, ignoring 
the crowd about them. 

Phineas overtook one of them. '‘What 
said he to thee?” he asked. 

“Peace,” answered the fellow. 

“Only that?” cried Phineas. “I certainly 
thought he must have threatened to have 
thee imprisoned. ’ ’ 

“It was not what he said,” blurted out the 
bully, and hastened his steps to rid himself 
of his questioner. 

Phineas set about gathering his flock, and 
soon the little group was on its homeward 
way again. “What meanest thou by inter- 
fering with those good-for-naughts? ” he asked 
of Jesus. “The hill people should keep in 
their caves and not be allowed to come into 
the city if they cannot behave themselves 


JESUS’S BROTHERS 63 

decently. But what is that to thee? If they 
fight, let them fight.” 

”They are my brethren,” said Jesus. 

That night, after the little table had 
been set aside and the family gathered in 
the porch, Phineas began to relate the eve- 
ning’s adventures. 

”He is strange,” said Phineas. ”I know 
not what he says. 'His brethren!’ What 
means he?” 

"We are all the children of one Father,” 
said Aunt Anna. 

Phineas reflected a moment. "But they 
are not fit for a Jew to pass on the street.” 

"Let him alone,” said Uncle Abda. "He 
will do no harm. Both the hill people and 
the Gentiles are a riotous set. If he can do 
them any good, it were well.” 

"He is no Jew,” said Phineas, sullenly. 
"He honors not the Jews.” 

" It is strange a lad has so much authority,” 
said Lois. 

"He loves everybody, he is so kind,” said 


64 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

little Ednah, who had been an interested 
listener. 

‘^He looks at them so sorrowfully, if they 
do not well,’’ said Omri. 

*'He is so happy when they are kind,” said 
Regem. 

^‘But he need not join in their sports,” 
cried Phineas. 

^'He always plays fair, and is never angry 
when he is beaten, and he settles all the dis- 
putes, and Hazar the fruit-seller calls him 
'The Peacemaker,’ ” said Regem. 

"He must be half Gentile,” said Phineas. 
"He has not the spirit of a Jew.” 

"He has the blood of kings in his veins,” 
interposed Abda. 

"How so?” cried Phineas, greatly amazed. 

"Both Mary and Joseph are of the house 
and lineage of David,” said Abda. 

Phineas was astounded. That his humble 
neighbor was the descendant of a king, and 
of the great king David, was almost unbe- 
lievable. 


JESUS’S BROTHERS 65 

'‘You may read the genealogy in the book 
of records, at Bethlehem,” said Abda. 

Then Phineas grew angry. Jesus was of 
royal descent, and he was going down to 
Jerusalem to the Passover, he, who cared 
nothing for worldly position, and did not 
honor his people. Why had not all this 
fallen to his lot? 

Little Ednah listened with a 303dul heart, 
and in the dark her eyes shone like twin 
stars. It seemed so fitting to her that this 
lad was descended from a royal family. 
There was no other lad like him. 

But more than all that, it was such a 
beautiful thing that Jesus should be of the 
same lineage, of the same city and the same 
age, as the Babe she had so often been told 
about. 

That night Ednah’s last thought was, 
“He is of the house and lineage of David”; 
and Phineas’s, “They are my brethren.” 


CHAPTER V 

WHO IS HE? 

R abbi NATHAN was very busy at the 
time of the Passover. All the city of 
Jerusalem was very busy during this time, 
and crowded to overflowing with pilgrim 
Jews — Jews who had piously come to keep 
the Passover there, and Jews and others who 
had come to sell everything that there was 
any sale for at the preparation of the great 
feast. Every house was filled with kinsmen, 
every lodging place taken, every thoroughfare 
crowded with people and cattle. The khan 
outside the city gates was packed, and the 
booths set up beyond the khan reached far 
from the gates, and beyond these were the 
tents. 

Around this multitude a little figure in 
white, with a quiet manner and an observant 
air, came and went, mostly unnoticed. Now 
and then one turned to look after him, his 


66 


WHO IS HE? 


67 


attention arrested by the bright look and 
modest demeanor of the stranger lad, the 
only one in all the city of eager, shrewd, 
hurrying people who seemed to be at peace 
with himself. 

Rabbi Nathan occasionally caught a glimpse 
of this little figure, and looked after him 
inquiringly. ‘'Where have I seen that face? ” 
he would muse, and then pass on to attend 
to his duties. 

At the Temple the confusion and traffic 
were even greater. It grieved Rabbi Nathan's 
heart to see the gates of the Temple, and even 
the outer court, made such a place of mer- 
chandise. It grieved him to think that his 
people were so greedy for gain that they per- 
mitted all this. He thought of the priests 
who worked for their own selfish aims instead 
of for the welfare of the people. He knew 
they were lacking in reverence, and not faith- 
ful to their duties in the Temple. 

“What will the Messiah find when he 
comes?” mused Rabbi Nathan, who believed 


68 JACOB, A LAD OF , NAZARETH 

the time was at hand. '‘He will find the 
Temple polluted, the people worshiping Mam- 
mon instead of Jehovah. We shall never be 
delivered from the hands of the Romans if 
we forget God,’' he had said many times to 
the elders and the priests, but they only 
laughed at him. He thought of the dis- 
honesty of the Jews in their dealings, of their 
cruelty to the unfortunate, their oppressions 
of the poor, and he feared new calamities 
would fall upon the people. He recalled in 
the Psaliris the many warnings to the people 
to be kind and just to all God’s children, and 
he prayed, as he had so often prayed before 
to the great Jehovah, to send a Saviour 
quickly. 

Rabbi Nathan was standing in the inner 
court, the men’s court, and as he raised his 
head his eyes rested upon a little figure in 
white standing beside one of the great marble 
pillars. The lad was looking at him atten- 
tively, but moved away as the man raised 
his head, and disappeared among the white 


WHO IS HE? 69 

columns. The Rabbi went into one of the 
chambers of the court where preparatory 
services were to be held by the masters. The 
din of the traffic in the outer court made it 
difficult to hear the speakers. Several went 
out and tried to secure a little quiet, but it 
was of no avail. At last Rabbi Nathan rose, 
and in an eloquent and stirring address ad- 
jured them not to permit the present state 
of things longer to exist. 

'*Why is the heel of the Roman on otir 
necks this day?'’ he cried. '‘Is it because 
the great Jehovah is not able to deliver us? 
‘ Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that 
it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it 
cannot hear; But your iniquities have sepa- 
rated between you and your God, and your 
sins have hid his face from you!’ ” 

The din did not lessen outside, but in the 
coimcil chamber it was very still; and si- 
lently, one by one, the Rabbis rose from their 
places and passed out, each seemingly com- 
muning with his own heart. As Rabbi 


70 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


Nathan watched them filing out, he spied 
among them again the slender little figure 
in white, also, like the others, seeming to hold 
communion with himself. 

^‘Who is the lad?’* he asked of one who 
stood near, but the man did not know. 

Later in the day he found him watching 
the priests making ready for the sacrifices, 
and after that he came upon the little lad 
in an alcove by himself, lost in meditation. 

“Who art thou?” asked Rabbi Nathan, 
gently. 

The lad raised his eyes and looked at the 
good Rabbi. 

“Jesus, of Nazareth,” he answered him. 

“I have found him out,” he said to his 
wife Athaliah, when he had once more 
returned to his home. All the ceremonies 
at the Temple had not banished the little 
white figure from his mind. “He is the son 
of Mary, the daughter of thy Cousin Anna, 
of Nazareth.” 

“I remember,” said Althaliah; “she was 


WHO IS HE? 


71 


married to one Joseph, a carpenter. Mary 
I have not seen since she was a little maid. 
She was sweet and bright, and wise for her 
years; wonderfully like her mother.” 

“And his name is Jesus,” Rabbi Nathan 
continued. “I remember now I saw him in 
the school at Nazareth. He is the age of my 
brother Jotham's son, Phineas. I knew I 
had seen his face somewhere.” 

The third day after the Passover all the 
people went down into the Kedron valley 
to see the sheaf of the first fruits cut. 

There were no gardens in Jerusalem, except 
on the housetops, but the steep slopes all 
about the city were covered with them. All 
the wayside down to the valley, the valley 
itself, and the hillslopes on the farther side 
were covered with garden walls and terraces 
rimning over with luxuriant greenery and 
glowing with the rainbow tints of the blossoms. 

Out of the Golden Gate, down the long, 
steep flight of steps, the people thronged, and 
the quiet valley was filled with joyous voices 


72 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

singing psalms and shouting praises. The 
groves echoed their shouts and the barley 
fields waved brightly in the sunshine. 

Just at sunset three priests from the Temple 
came down with baskets and sickles, and cut 
the sheaf of barley, returning with great 
rejoicing to the Temple. 

Rabbi Nathan and his wife Athaliah fol- 
lowed slowly, watching the people surging 
back to the city. 

‘‘We must gather some flowers for the 
dear mother,’’ said Athaliah. “And we must 
not forget the lilies of Siloam; mother thinks 
them fairer than any others.” 

So they gathered a great basket full of 
lilies and roses, and all the beautiful blossoms 
that grew about the valley. As they rested 
at the pool of Siloam before gathering the 
choicest lilies there, they saw a little white 
figure standing on an eminence above the 
pool. He had a sheaf of the scarlet lilies 
on his arm, and was watching the people 
hmrying through the gate. 


WHO IS HE? 


73 


'‘See, yonder!” said Rabbi Nathan. '"That 
is the lad I told thee of — Jesus, of Nazareth. 
He is a very quiet lad. At Nazareth the 
Hazan told me he was wonderfully quick 
with his lessons, and none of the lads could 
keep pace with him. And he perplexed the 
good Hazan with hard questions. He has 
great understanding for a lad of his age. 
Yesterday, and the day of the Passover, I 
found him in the Temple, meditating alone. 
He has eyes that thrill me when he looks into 
mine. It seems as if he read the thoughts 
of my heart.” 

Athaliah looked long at the quiet face so 
clearly outlined against the bright sky, while 
the Rabbi muttered, "A strange lad, a quiet, 
studious lad. Mayhap he will make a great 
Rabbi. Or perhaps he will become a prophet. 
We have not had a prophet since the days of 
Malachi.” 

"Have they kinspeople here?” asked Atha- 
liah. "Joseph and Mary?” 

"They abide with friends in Bethany, on 


74 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

the farther side of Olivet — Lazarus, and his 
two sisters, Mary and Martha.’* 

** I know them well,” said Athaliah. ''Their 
mother belonged in Bethlehem, my child- 
hood’s home. We will visit them. I would 
see Mary, the mother of Jesus, and I would 
see more of this lad.” 

Bethany, on the farther side of the Moimt 
of Olives, was less than an hour’s journey. 
A few days later Rabbi Nathan and Athaliah 
came down the steps of the Golden Gate on 
the east side of the Temple, crossed the little 
bridge over the Kedron, and followed the 
camel path up the hill past Gethsemane, 
leaving the traveled road to take the shorter 
footpath leading down the other side. On 
the west side, facing Jerusalem, were many 
gardens and vineyards, and the dovecotes of 
the priests, not openly owned by them, how- 
ever, but a source of no inconsiderable income. 
On the east side the hill was bare, with only 
prickly pear and other cacti for vegetation. 

The hill sloped down to a beautiful dell 


WHO IS HE? 


75 


where fig, almond, and olive trees abounded, 
and several roads wound through here. At 
the east end of this dell nestled Bethany, its 
little, whitewashed, flat-roofed houses nearly 
hidden by the trees and shrubbery and gar- 
den walls. 

Here the travelers found Mary and Martha, 
and Mary the mother of Jesus, but the lad 
and Joseph and Lazarus were at Jerusalem. 

After a happy day spent in this quiet 
retreat, which was hidden from the city by a 
spur of the hill. Rabbi Nathan and Athaliah 
made their way over the mount again and 
climbed the steps to the Golden Gate. 

A peculiar undertone of sound seemed to 
come from all about the city; and as they 
stood within the gates and listened, Athaliah 
said, ‘‘The sound of the grinding is low; the 
women are weary.” 

At their own gates the sound grew louder. 
The women servants were grinding the grain 
of the early harvest, which is reaped directly 
after the sheaf of the first fruits is presented 


76 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


as a heave offering, then made into cakes and 
presented as a meat offering in the Temple. 

Later in the evening Rabbi Nathan passed 
through the busy streets on his way to see a 
brother Rabbi, and at the street corners were 
the women grinding the grain at the mills. 
All his life he had seen them; they were as 
familiar as any sight in Jerusalem. But 
to-night he looked at them with a new inter- 
est, the words of Athaliah still sotmding in 
his ears, ‘‘The women are weary.’’ 

The grain was ground between the upper 
and nether millstones, being poured in a hole 
at the top, and two women, one on either 
side, seized by turn the handles on the upper 
stone, and the grain was ground between the 
two stones and ran out on to a cloth spread 
beneath. 

It was hard work, and only the poorest 
people would grind at the mills, and only 
the women of the poor people. Everywhere 
the women were grinding, and everywhere 
sellers were crying their new barley cakes 


WHO IS HE? 


77 


made from the meal the women had ground. 

The streets were lined with shops which 
were nothing but recesses under th^ buildings, 
open next the street. These were gay with 
lights and well-displayed wares, and crowded 
with customers and sight-seers. 

In some of the streets all the shops were 
of a kind. There was the grocers* street, the 
potters* street, the shoemakers* street, the 
fruiterers* street, and so on; while in any 
convenient corner were set up the caf6s, 
which were only inclosures furnished with a 
little table, a few rush chairs, a tiny lamp for 
making coffee, coffee cups, and long pipes — 
and sometimes a board for the patrons to 
play damek on. Here and there a more 
ambitious caf6 furnished a singer or story- 
teller for an added attraction. 

Slowly Rabbi Nathan passed by all this, 
taking note of many things, thinking how 
out of this abundance the poor and the beg- 
gars might be fed, and there still be enough 
for all, when he became aware of a little 
6 


78 JACOB, A LAD OP NAZARETH 

figure in white standing beside a millstone 
watching the two women grind. 

Rabbi Nathan stopped in the shadow of an 
archway that he might observe the boy, and 
trusting he might come that way. 

Both women looked worn; but the face 
of one was distorted by pain, and frequently 
she ceased grinding, and rubbed her right 
arm, while the other woman frowned impa- 
tiently because the work was delayed. 

The face of the little figure watching grew 
sympathetic, and soon he leaned over and 
said something to the woman with the dis- 
torted face. She looked up at him incredu- 
lously, hesitated, and muttered, is too 
hard for thee!” Then, as he insisted, she 
arose and he took her place. 

Rabbi Nathan drew near, the sound of the 
grinding covering his steps. He saw the 
drops of perspiration stand out on the lad's 
brow, and the slender hands tremble. 

‘‘Son,” said Rabbi Nathan sharply, “come 
with me.” 


WHO IS HE? 


79 


The lad looked up and said, ^^The grain 
is not ground.” And he kept on with the 
grinding, while Rabbi Nathan, much won- 
dering what manner of Jew this Jesus of 
Nazareth might be, went his way. 

”He is studious, loves learning, and has a 
tender heart,” he said. ^‘But he is too hum- 
ble for a Jew. The lowliest Jew in the city 
would not be found grinding at the mills.” 
But ever after that night, when Rabbi 
Nathan’s way took him through the gay 
thoroughfares thronged with pleasure seekers, 
he seemed to see a little white figure at the 
deserted street corner, where were only two 
women wearily grinding. And whenever he 
found suffering or unhappiness, oppression 
or injustice, there the face of the little lad 
of Nazareth seemed to look up at him. 


CHAPTER VI 


THE FIRST FRUITS 

O NE of the priests serving at the Temple 
was ill and sent for Rabbi Nathan to 
take his place. At an early hour of the eve- 
ning he went to the Temple. As he entered 
the ‘'Fire Chamber,” where were gathered 
those who were to serve the next day, he be- 
came conscious — almost before he saw him — 
of the presence of the little lad who seemed to 
haimt his steps. Rabbi Nathan noted how 
attentively he watched the solemn and elab- 
orate preparations for the night, the locking 
of the gates, and the hiding of the keys under 
a slab of the marble floor. 

When everything had been put in readiness 
for the sacrifices next morning, and the 
twenty-four delegates who represented the 
nation at the sacrifices and who witnessed 
the giving of the keys to the priest who was 
to guard them, and the priests. Rabbis, and 

8o 


THE FIRST FRUITS 


8i 


doctors who presided over the choosing of 
the priests for the next day’s service, had left 
the guardian of the keys stretched on the 
marble slab, which would be his bed for 
the night. Rabbi Nathan lost sight of the 
little lad. 

A great silence settled upon the Temple 
now, and the seven brightly burning lamps 
and the watchmen guarded the sacred place. 
But out of the silence seemed to come the 
soimd of grinding, and a face, tender in its 
sympathy, grew out of the dark. It bent 
over a millstone, and great drops of perspira- 
tion stood on the white brow, and a voice, 
sad and low, seemed to say in Rabbi Nathan’s 
ear, ‘‘The sound of the grinding is low; my 
people are weary.” 

The good Rabbi started up. There were 
the seven lamps burning and the watchmen 
watching; it was a dream. While he stared 
about him, there came a sound of softly 
rustling garments and the sound of many 
footsteps, then low voices and the flare of 


82 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

torches. It was the procession that just 
before dawn went all about the Temple to 
see that all was safe and ready for the day’s 
service. Rabbi Nathan rose and joined them. 

In and out among the marble pillars the 
procession passed, and a little figure in white 
hovered near them, now in the light of the 
flaring torches, now in the shadow of a marble 
column. 

Suddenly the captain of the watch halted, 
and the great keys shook in his hands. 

“Look!” he cried in a hoarse whisper. 
“It is a spirit!” 

Every one looked. They saw nothing 
but the flitting shadows, and they pretended 
to make light of the captain’s fright, but in 
truth each one thought on his sins and mut- 
tered prayers. Only Rabbi Nathan knew 
that the “spirit” the captain saw was the 
little lad of Nazareth. 

Now the great gates are opened, and three 
blasts of a trumpet call the people to make 
ready for the morning sacrifice. The silence 


THE FIRST FRUITS 


83 


of night is done and the busy day begun. 
The singers and musicians take their places 
near the great altar and the priests who are 
to blow the tnunpets at sunrise. 

When the watcher on the Temple roof 
caught the first glimpse of light on far-off 
Hebron, the mighty blasts of the trumpets 
aroused the whole city, and the smoke of 
the sacrifice mounted heavenward. The de- 
serted roofs of the city became alive with 
worshipers; the face of every Israelite turned 
Templeward, and every knee bowed, while 
one grand symphony of prayer and praise 
rose from the united voices of a hundred 
thousand men who feared Jehovah and called 
upon his name. 

After the sacrifice, and the psalms of the 
day, the service is closed with the ancient 
benediction: ‘'The Lord bless thee, and keep 
thee: The Lord make his face shine upon 
thee, and be gracious unto thee: ^The Lord 
lift up his countenance upon thee, and give 
thee peace.” 


84 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


As these solemn words fell from the lips 
of the priest, Rabbi Nathan beheld the lad 
Jesus standing with uplifted face. The glory 
of the early morning shone upon it, and 
strangely moved the good Rabbi. He was 
more than ever convinced that the lad was 
to be a prophet. 

Laden with free-will offerings, the people 
began to throng the gates, and Rabbi Nathan 
went about his duties and saw no more of the 
little lad. 

Rabbi Nathan and Athaliah had planned, 
the day they went to Bethany, to go up 
to Nazareth in the same caravan with Mary 
and Joseph. The little party started from 
Rabbi Nathan’s house and joined the multi- 
tude at the gate. 

The confusion, after the week of feasting, is 
even greater than at the beginning. Thou- 
sands of people, with their families and goods, 
form into parties to join the various caravans 
bound for different parts of the country. 


THE FIRST FRUITS 


85 


As the start is made in the early morning 
so that they may travel in the cool of the day, 
this assorting is done by torchlight, and it is 
amazing that out of this confusion of camels, 
donkeys, and people any order is possible. 

Torches are darting and diving over the 
heads of the people; voices shouting good- 
bys, calling for companions, frantically de- 
manding their belongings, and angry drivers 
cursing, create a bedlam of sound; and the 
men, women, and children on foot are dodging 
this way and that to keep from being trodden 
down by the camels and donkeys, or crushed 
between the great loads on their backs. 

But at last the great mass of confusion of 
sight and sound begins to move from the 
gate, and forms into what seems an endless 
procession, moving down the hillside in the 
weird torchlight. 

It was not until this amazing procession 
had crossed the valley and several caravans 
had taken different routes, that Rabbi 
Nathan was able to look about him. Then he 


86 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

discovered that Joseph and his family were 
not with them. After patient search, Mary 
and Joseph were found, but Jesus was not 
with them. Messengers were sent in all 
directions, and then, not finding him, they 
returned in haste and with great anxiety to 
Jerusalem. They feared he had become be- 
wildered and gone with another caravan. 

After three days’ search, when well-nigh 
despairing, at Rabbi Nathan’s suggestion 
they sought him in the Temple. There they 
found him absorbed in conversation with 
the doctors and eagerly asking them ques- 
tions. They asked him questions, too, and 
stared amazed at his answers. All this 
Rabbi Nathan saw as he stood looking at the 
lad, and greatly wondering what this might 
mean; then he went out to the court where 
the others waited, and brought them in. 

A sharp cry of mingled surprise and joy 
turned all eyes upon Mary, who stood at the 
railing before the platform where the doctors 
and Rabbis were assembled. 


THE FIRST FRUITS 


87 


'‘Son/’ Mary cried, with outstretched arms, 
“why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, 
thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.” 

The lad turned from the company, and 
gently answered, as he stepped down beside 
his mother, “How is it that ye sought me? 
wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s 
business?” 

They who had been searching for Jesus, 
and they who had been conversing with him, 
turned to one another with questioning 
glances. What meant he? But no one was 
able to answer. 

While the caravan made its slow way 
through the valleys and over the mountains, 
up in Nazareth were anxious ones awaiting 
the return of the pilgrims, for there were 
many dangers. Every day Phineas and Ed- 
nah watched by the resting stone, eager to 
welcome their playmate, eager to greet their 
uncle, the good Rabbi Nathan, and his wife 
Athaliah. 

The first arrivals told the story of Jesus 


88 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

in the Temple, and soon the story had spread 
over the city, even to the rough hill country 
where the cave dwellers lived. When the 
little party arrived the gate was thronged 
with curious people who believed the lad 
Jesus was to become a prophet. They were 
disappointed to find him the same quiet, 
industrious lad as before. Even Phineas and 
Ednah forgot their shyness after a time, 
finding him not a whit changed. 

It was only that he is always asking ques- 
tions, concluded Phineas. ^*The Kazan al- 
ways marveled at him, and no wonder the 
Rabbis were astonished/* It was not the 
custom for Jew lads to question, but to listen 
and remember. 

Something, no one knew just what, was 
expected of Jesus after his return from Jeru- 
salem; but as nothing new took place, Jesus 
going about his daily tasks with Joseph and 
the lads, they gave up thinking he might be 
a great Rabbi, or perhaps a prophet, and at 
last they nearly forgot the story the pilgrims 


THE FIRST FRUITS 89 

brought. But Mary and Ednah did not 
forget. 

Of Jesus it was said in those days — '‘He 
increased in wisdom and stature, and in 
favor with God and man.’’ And so he lived 
his peaceful life in his happy home in beautiful 
Nazareth, while all about in Galilee and in 
Judea the people were in perpetual ferment, 
scheming rebellion, and being mercilessly 
crushed at every attempt. And ever they 
looked for a mighty leader who should deliver 
them from their oppression. 



Part II 

JESUS THE CARPENTER 
"Because he first loved us." 




CHAPTER VII 

IN THE MARKETPLACE 

O H, Jacob, see the camels! What a 
great caravan comes to-night! It 
reaches quite across the valley. There must 
be many merchantmen on the way to Sep- 
phoris and Tiberius.” 

Jacob and his cousin Julia were at the 
spring at the foot of the hill outside the gates 
of Nazareth, filling their water jars. They 
set down the jars, and, shading their eyes 
with their hands, looked down the steep 
path into the valley. 

'‘Uncle Nathan will surely be in the cara- 
van,” said Jacob, and his dark brow cleared 
a little at the thought; for he greatly revered 
and loved the good Rabbi, and never wearied 
of his stories of the early history of the Jews 
and his descriptions of Jerusalem and the 
Temple. Then his face darkened again, for 
his brother Phineas had said he could not 
go to the Passover this year. 

7 


93 


94 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

Phineas had not become a scribe as he had 
planned. His father had not recovered his 
health, but had grown more helpless and 
bitter each year. He died when his youngest 
child, Jacob, was four years old. So the 
burden of supporting the family fell upon 
Phineas. He continued to work for his 
Uncle Abda, who was a large-hearted man 
and kept the unfortunate family in his own 
home until Phineas was able to make a home 
for his mother and the children. 

Now he had a wife and two little ones of 
his own. Ednah was still with him. The 
taxgatherer’s eldest son had desired her for 
his wife, but Phineas had refused to give his 
consent, for he hated the taxgatherer’s son. 
A Jewish maiden may not marry without her 
brother’s consent, if the father be dead. 
Ednah loved the taxgatherer’s son; so she 
had not wedded. 

Julia, the youngest of Abda’s household, 
looked curiously at her playmate’s lowering 
countenance. care for naught,” said 


IN THE MARKETPLACE 


95 


Jacob, sullenly, '‘if I may not go to the 
Passover. Phineas tells me he did not go 
until he was fourteen; but do I not know that 
it was his wish to go when he became a Son 
of the Law? I am twelve; I shall be free 
next Sabbath. I should go back to Jerusalem 
with Uncle Nathan.’* 

Jacob pushed back the thick, dark locks 
from his forehead, and looked down the path 
so many pilgrims had traveled. Both children 
were dark with the characteristic Jewish 
features; but Julia was tall and lithe, with a 
merry face and sprightly manner, while 
Jacob was more squarely built, with a grave, 
almost morose cast of countenance, and a 
haughty bearing. Julia’s gaze followed her 
companion’s. 

“How fast the people talk, and how they 
wave their arms!’’ said Julia. 

“Something has happened. Can you see 
a tall man with a long gray beard, mounted 
on a donkey with blue and gold saddle cloth? ’’ 
questioned Jacob, eagerly. 


96 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

'‘I can see only the camels with great 
loads of goods, and a company of people,’' 
said Julia, craning her neck to get a better 
view. 

'‘Let us hasten and fill our jars, and climb 
up to the resting stone,” said Jacob, seizing 
his jar and holding it under the stream of 
water that gushed out of the rock. "We can 
see more plainly higher up, and we shall be 
nearer the gate.” 

So they took their jars to the resting stone, 
where Phineas and Ednah used to linger to 
watch the pilgrims climb the hill. Looking 
toward the gate, they saw it thronged with 
the people of the city, come out to welcome 
kinspeople or friends among the pilgrims, or 
simply idlers who make the gate and the 
marketplace their favorite resort for seeing 
the sights and gathering news. But to-night 
the gossips have forgotten to whisper, and 
all are loudly wondering what it is that so 
excites the travelers. 

As the procession draws nearer, the children 


IN THE MARKETPLACE 


97 


hasten inside the gates to escape the crowd, 
for in a few moments all will be confusion. 
The khan will swarm with people; booths and 
tents will be raised, for to-morrow is market 
day, and there will be sharp bargaining at 
the city gates as well as in the marketplace. 

Those who are to spend the night in the 
city pour in at the gate, and from them Jacob 
and Julia catch bits of talk as they cross the 
little court inside the gate, and make their 
way into the dim streets. 

*‘He preaches repentance,’' said one. 

“He baptizes with water,” said another. 

“He wears a coat of camel’s hair,” said 
a third. 

“He dwells in the wilderness, and his food 
is locusts and honey,” said the first speaker. 

“All the world has gone down to the Jordan 
to be baptized of him,” declared one. “He 
calls all the nations of the earth to repent 
of their sins.” 

“All the heathen Gentiles,” muttered Jacob 
under his breath. His eyes glowed, and he 


98 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


said to himself, '‘This strange man must be 
a Jew. He will make Jews of all the world. 
Perhaps he is a great prophet, perhaps — 
but no, the Messiah would not be a rough 
man living in the wilderness.'’ 

Still the people hurried by. "He says one 
greater than he will come after him, that is 
mightier than he." 

Jacob stepped out from the shadow of the 
gate and accosted the man who had last 
spoken. "Sir, who is the man all the people 
are talking about?" 

"His name is John," answered the stranger, 
as he passed by, not slackening his pace. 

"From whence is this John?" inquired 
Jacob of another. 

‘ ' From the wilderness ; that is all we know, ’ ' 
was the answer. 

Then Jacob took his jar and called Julia, 
who was patiently waiting. She was dream- 
ing of the gay scenes of the morrow. 

Jacob was more deeply disappointed now, 
than at first, that his uncle had not arrived 


IN THE MARKETPLACE 


99 


with the caravan. “Uncle Nathan,” he said 
to Julia, “could tell us all about this strange 
man. Perhaps he has seen him.” 

Ednah was standing in the door of the 
cottage, wondering, a little anxiously, what 
had kept the children so long at the spring. 

“Oh!” cried Julia in a voice of dismay. 
“I promised to gather some herbs for the 
jars, and I have forgotten.” 

“And I was to fetch some dried grass for 
the oven,” said Jacob. “I think Phineas 
might build a rick for it nearer the house.” 

Julia left Jacob at his gate and ran on to 
her own home, just beyond. Each told of 
the strange things they had heard, and after 
the evening meal the two families gathered 
in Abda’s porch and talked it over. “What 
think you. Uncle Abda?” asked Phineas. 

“Oh, it is some enthusiast,” he said easily, 
but little disturbed by the broken bits of 
information the children had gathered. 

“We shall hear more to-morrow, in the 
marketplace,” said Phineas. 


100 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


Jacob looked solemnly from one to another, 
and wondered that this strange news did 
not rouse them. His eyes glowed, and his 
mind was in a tumult. He was glad that he 
was so soon to become a Son of the Law, 
for he was to be a scribe, and then he would 
have access to all the sacred rolls, and he 
would learn many things. He would study 
the prophets, and find for himself what they 
said about the Messiah. He wished there 
were more of the Scriptures in the synagogue 
at Nazareth. His eagerness grew into a 
fever of impatience as he thought he must 
wait until he went to Jerusalem before he 
could read more. 

The next morning the children, Jacob and 
Julia, were early at the city gates, to see 
the gates opened. There were two hundred 
and forty towns and villages, and fifteen 
fortresses, in fruitful Galilee; all prosper- 
ous and populous. And from all directions 
the merchants, farmers, traders, and dealers 
of all sorts passed by Nazareth on their way 


IN THE MARKETPLACE loi 


to Jerusalem; and here they halted on a 
market day. And when the gates were 
opened they poured into the marketplace, — 
camels, donkeys, calves, sheep, fruit sellers, 
fish sellers, dry-goods dealers, jewelers; the 
men busy setting up booths and stands, or 
spreading mats to display their wares, and 
crying them in voices harsh and shrill, while 
the children rolled about underfoot every- 
where, but seldom coming to harm, ' and 
joining their voices to the general confusion. 

After the people in their gay costumes, and 
the traders with their goods, had ceased 
pouring through the gate, Jacob and Julia 
took a look outside. The fortunate dealers 
who had secured places at the gateway had 
their booths or stands raised, and their wares 
displayed, already beginning a good trade, 
while their less favored fellow-traders were 
on their way to the marketplace. 

There were many camels — uncouth, rough, 
and gray — groaning now and then, and show- 
ing their teeth; restless under their heavy 


102 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


loads of olives, figs, grapes, pomegranates, 
and wheat, and great crates of dates. There 
were donkeys with panniers of vegetables, 
fish merchants from Gennesaret, dove sellers 
from Magdala, also dry-goods dealers, for 
there were eighty woolen clothmakers here, 
and more in Arbela, near by. 

There were women with linen of their own 
weaving, made of flax of their own raising; 
pottery dealers from Hananiah, more women 
with jars of honey of wine” — grape juice. 

Turning their steps from the gate to the 
marketplace, where the scene was repeated, 
they found Lois and Ednah, Jacob’s mother 
and sister, and Anna, Julia’s mother, and 
Phineas’s wife Hester, with two little ones. 
All were in holiday attire. Over their linen 
gowns were fastened flowing garments of 
various colors, and their white veils had 
been exchanged for headdresses as gay as 
their robes, while bracelets, armlets, earrings, 
and necklaces gleamed from among the folds 
of their brave attire. 


IN THE MARKETPLACE 103 

Hester carried a basket of embroideries 
of her own handiwork, to sell to the traders 
bound to Judea. Lois had a roll of linen, 
fine, and white as the fuller could bleach it. 

While they sought purchasers, the others 
lingered at the booths, or watched the pic- 
turesque groups of people constantly moving 
about. 

''Those people are from the plain,” said 
Ednah. It was easy to distinguish the people 
of Esdraelon, they were so much darker 
than the Nazarenes. They had very bright 
eyes and very white teeth, and for gorgeous- 
ness of attire eclipsed their neighbors. 

Julia was much taken with the maids and 
matrons of Esdraelon. Of all the maids in 
Galilee, not one might be found more fond 
of jewels and fine raiment than Julia, the 
daughter of Abda. 

It was one of the trials of Jacob's life that 
Julia was so vain. Why was it she had no 
more serious thoughts in her mind than 
tricking herself out like a bird of gay feathers? 


104 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

How she would like to wear a red veil and 
long-pointed sleeves like those women pass- 
ing by! 

Next, she was dazzled by a rich sheikh, in 
purple jacket, scarlet boots, thin white cloak, 
and yellow headdress, mounted on a gray 
horse with a scarlet saddle. Julia reveled 
in color. Oh, for a gown of that glorious 
purple! Then a Roman centurion came that 
way, splendid in his military costume. 

Jacob was moving about the marketplace 
with his usual solemn and haughty air. He 
never forgot his dignity, even on a holiday. 
Here was a great gathering of people from his 
own city, and many cities around. What an 
opportunity to show the world what a pious 
Jew he was! He fingered the talliih, and 
muttered the Law imder his breath as he 
went, and was too taken up with his medita- 
tions to stop at the booths, though he saw 
a good deal in passing by. 

At last Jacob beheld an unwelcome sight, 
that set the blood tingling in his veins and 


IN THE MARKETPLACE 105 

kindled the slumbering fires in his eyes. It 
was the youngest son of the money changer, 
the taxgatherer, leaning over the counter 
and mocking at him. He did not deign to 
glance that way, but he plainly saw the 
embroidered cloak, and yellow silk turban, 
the insolent face and indolent figure, and 
heard the derisive laugh of Lucas, the detested 
publican. 

The angry blood surged to Jacob’s face, 
and the hand that had been caressing the 
tallith clenched, while the publican leaned 
back against the luxurious scarlet cushions 
on the bench behind the counter, and watched 
the haughty figure lose itself in the throng. 

'‘Hypocrite!” muttered the publican under 
his breath, with such energy that one hearing 
him might have surmised that his insolence 
covered quite as much bitterness as did 
Jacob’s hauteur. 

In the heat of this anger Jacob came upon 
the Roman centurion raising his hand in 
military salute to Julia, who looked half 


io6 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


pleased and half frightened. He scowled 
darkly at the Roman and said harshly to 
Julia, ^'Come with me.” 

He meant to take her to her mother, but 
his progress was arrested by another exas- 
perating sight. Hester, his brother’s wife, 
was bargaining with a young man arrayed in 
a rich white mantle, gold embroidered and 
fastened to his head by a gold cord, beneath 
which was a yellow silk tunic girdled with a 
wide blue sash. He had a fine face and a 
gentle manner, which weighed not a whit 
with Jacob, who released Julia to stride across 
the pavement and lay a warning hand on 
Hester’s arm. He was now in a raging fury, 
and Hester was frightened as she looked up 
and saw him beside her. 

'‘Stay, woman!” he cried. "What aileth 
thee? Will you bring a curse upon our people 
by dealing with a Samaritan?” 

"He would give me my price, the others 
refused,” answered Hester tremulously, know- 
ing well that it was a great offense for a 


IN THE MARKETPLACE 107 


Jew to have aught to do with one of these 
despised people. 

''Thy price! Is that all thou carest for?’' 
he cried wrathfully. "Where is thy pride? 
Is not that dearer than gold? Alas! that a 
woman of the Jews takes no heed than to so 
dishonor her people in the public streets.” 

"For a lad, thou art wonderfully master- 
ful,” said Lois, coming to Hester’s aid; and 
Jacob, for fear of more angry words falling 
from his lips, turned away, and as he did so 
his eyes fell upon Julia standing at a jeweler’s 
counter and admiring the showy trinkets he 
held up before her eyes. "They are all 
alike,” he muttered, "caring only for the 
vanities of the world.” And then he added, 
"All but Ednah.” 

Even as the words passed his lips, Ednah 
joined Julia, and with an arm about her she 
lifted the brooches and bracelets, one after 
another, and seemed to be discussing them 
with her. 

Jacob fled from the marketplace. He could 


io8 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

endure no more. He sought the hills for 
solitude, and to get away from the hateful 
sights. There Ednah fotmd him a long time 
after, brooding over his grievances. The 
breeze on the mountain could not cool his 
brow for the heat of the anger that seethed 
within him. The more he pondered, the 
deeper the fires burned in his eyes, and the 
more passionate waxed his wrath. Unheeded, 
the little water spring sang to him from its 
blossomy banks; unheeded, the blossoms 
smiled up into his face. Not all the grandeur 
of snow-crowned Lebanon, towering beyond 
the hills, nor the sweetness of the lily of the 
valley, could comfort him. 


CHAPTER VIII 


STILLING THE TEMPEST 

E DNAH sat down beside her brother and 
put her arms about him. This brother 
was very dear to her, but he was of so bitter 
and passionate and haughty a spirit that she 
often feared for him. She could comfort 
him when he turned from every one else, but 
to-day she, too, had fallen from grace. 

''Tell me all thy griefs,’' said Ednah, softly. 
"Was it not enough that all the others’ 
heads were turned by the vanity of the mar- 
ketplace,’’ be began abruptly, "but that thou 
must needs get the glitter in thine eyes?” 

"Oh, my brother, I but shared in Julia’s 
pleasure that I might guide her in the choosing 
of her baubles,” said Ednah, smiling into his 
angry eyes. 

Jacob’s face relaxed a little. 

"The centurion but apologized for jostling 
Julia in the crowd,” continued Ednah. "We 
8 


109 


no JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


certainly have cause to be thankful when a 
Roman offers courtesy, instead of insult, to 
one of our people/' 

Jacob's blood began to cool, but he spoke 
not a word. 

^‘The Samaritan, I am sure, is a good man, 
and fair in his dealings. I saw his face, and 
it was the face of a man of rank, and also of 
one with justice and kindness of heart." 

‘‘If that were true, still, he is a Samaritan," 
said Jacob. 

“ It is not just to visit the sins of the ances- 
tors upon the children," said Ednah. “He is 
blameless of the offense of his fathers." 

“The iniquity of the fathers shall be 
visited upon the children unto the third 
and fourth generation; the Decalogue says 
it," answered Jacob. 

“Because of that, their burdens are heavy 
enough without a needless adding to them. 
Not a Jew would give mother or Hester their 
price to-day, but the Samaritan agreed imme- 
diately." 


STILLING THE TEMPEST in 


''Women are perverse,” said Jacob. "Thou 
knowest the Law.” 

"I know it is not just,” said Ednah, and 
then she began to sing softly, for on this 
point she and Jacob never agreed. And he, 
knowing that she, all the time, had the pub- 
lican’s son in her mind, and knowing how 
submissively and cheerfully she bore her 
cross, standing by her family like a true 
Jewish maiden, had not the heart further to 
reproach her. 

Ednah looked across the green, flower- 
spangled pastures where the flocks were 
feeding. It was such a glad day up there on 
the hilltops! The only shadow seemed that 
on Jacob’s face. Below, the little groves 
and gardens smiled in the sunshine, and the 
leaves of silvery sheen and emerald green 
clapped their hands softly, while the birds 
flitted in and out, and made sweeter music 
than the harpers in the marketplace. 

Ednah wondered how Jacob could keep 
all the gladness out of his heart in such a 


1 12 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


beautiful world as this, and she half inaudibly 
went on with her chanting of the one hundred 
and fourth Psalm, which she had learned verse 
by verse at her mother's knee when a child. 

‘My meditation of him shall be sweet: I 
will be glad in the Lord,' " chanted Ednah, 
repeating this verse over and over after 
singing all the others, theti beginning at the 
first again; while Jacob slowly rose and began 
to descend the hill, not speaking. 

Ednah called the flock and took them to 
the spring. There, too, she had left the 
water jars on her way to the pasture. All 
down the hillsides and over the fields the 
blossoms nodded to her, and she ran this 
way and that and filled her arms with them. 
“I will give them to Julia to deck herself 
with," she said; “they are fairer than rubies. 
See, brother, here are phlox as pink as her 
cheeks when thou chidest her; rock roses, 
yellow and white; golden cistuses, marigolds, 
geraniums, red tulips and pink convolvulus, 
orchids, asphodel, garlic, mignonette, salvia. 


STILLING THE TEMPEST 113 


pimpernel, and cyclamen — a nosegay fit for 
a queen/' 

At the spring, while Jacob watered the 
flock and filled the jars, Ednah fashioned a 
garland of the flowers and threw it over her 
shoulders. Then each took one of the jars 
and began to climb the hill to the city gate, 
and Ednah took up her song again. 

'' ^My meditation of him shall be sweet: 
I will be glad in the Lord.' 

** *Thou art clothed with honor and maj- 
esty.' 

'Who coverest thyself with light as with 
a garment,' she chanted, spreading her 
hands in the sunshine that seemed to flood 
the world; 'who stretchest out the heavens 
like a curtain.' " She lifted her face to the 
cloudless blue arch above her, yes, like a 
beautiful blue curtain all shining in the 
light. 

" 'They go up by the mountains; they go 
down by the valleys unto the place which 
thou hast founded for them.' 


1 14 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


' He sendeth the springs into the valleys, 
which run among the hills/ 

^They give drink to every beast of the 
field/ 

‘By them shall the fowls of the heaven 
have their habitation, which sing among the 
branches/ ” 

Here Ednah lifted her water jar from off 
her head, for they were almost at the 
village, and she would listen to the wren 
and the blackcap piping from the hedge, 
and watch the gay butterflies hovering over 
the wayside flowers. 

“ ‘ He watereth the hills from his chambers: 
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy 
works,’ ” continued the maid, once more re- 
suming her walk and her song. 

“ ‘He causeth the grass to grow for the 
cattle, and herb for the service of man.’ 

“ ‘And wine that maketh glad the heart 
of man, . . . and bread which strength- 
eneth man’s heart.’ 

“ ‘O Lord, how manifold are thy works! 


STILLING THE TEMPEST 115 

in wisdom hast thou made them all: the 
earth is full of thy riches/ 

‘My meditation of him shall — * 

“Peace! Peace! Hold thy peace!’' inter- 
rupted Jacob, turning about. He was a step 
or so in advance of Ednah. 

The song ceased. Directly they came to the 
tents of the travelers, then to the gate now 
deserted for the marketplace, and the sounds 
of festivity that closed the day of traffic came 
out to them. Jacob turned again to Ednah. 
“Thou wouldst be with the others; go.’’ 

“Nay; I would! abide with thee,” smiled 
Ednah. 

As they came out of the dim street to the 
open, they met Jesus, the carpenter. “ Peace 
be unto thee,” he said, giving Jacob an atten- 
tive glance as he passed by. 

The storm in the lad’s heart was stilled. 
The help that he had not found on the hills 
or in the valley had come to him with the 
words of the carpenter. How, he could not 
tell; but so it was. 


ii6 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


^'God is able to redeem his people,*^ said 
Jacob in a confident voice. '^Not all the 
Jews dwell at Nazareth.’' By which he 
meant that, though the Jews were lax at 
Nazareth, there were plenty of the faithful 
at Jerusalem. 


CHAPTER IX 

A JEW boy's vow 

T hat night, just at dusk, a venerable 
pilgrim halted before the door of Abda. 
It was Rabbi Nathan, his brother. 

With joy Abda hastened to bring fresh gar- 
ments, and water to wash the dust of the 
desert from his feet, while Anna prepared 
refreshment for him the while they inquired 
for his welfare, and the welfare of Athaliah, 
and asked if there was any news from Jeru- 
salem. 

“All the city has gone after one John, 
who dwells in the desert and calls himself 
a prophet,” said Rabbi Nathan. “The offi- 
cers would arrest him, but they fear the 
multitude. He makes more converts in a 
day than the Jewish proselyter in a century.” 

“Then the Jews do not believe in him?” 
said Abda. 

“They think him an impostor. Any one, 


ii8 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

they say, might go into the desert and pretend 
to be a prophet/’ 

‘'Yes, but they would not preach repent- 
ance if they wished to be popular,” said some 
one from the porch. 

It was Jacob, who had been notified by 
Julia of Rabbi Nathan’s arrival. Nothing 
further had been learned that day in the 
marketplace, and Jacob listened eagerly to 
the Rabbi’s words. 

“It is likely he is one of those reckless 
Zealots. They have no care for the favor of 
the people, neither for their life. This man’s 
zeal, no doubt, has set his brain on fire and 
he imagines himself a prophet,” said Rabbi 
Nathan. 

Jacob was disappointed and not satisfied. 
He had hoped his uncle would show more 
interest. What if John were a true prophet! 
What if he had been sent to proclaim the 
Messiah! What if, at last,, this great event 
so long looked for by the Jews was at hand — 
was to come to pass now, in his day! 


A JEW BOY’S VOW 


119 

Long after the household was asleep Jacob 
lay with wide-open eyes, and brain teeming 
with visions of great possibilities. He might 
live to see Jerusalem restored to his people 
and the hateful despot, the Roman, routed 
and deposed. 

While Jacob was dreaming dreams and 
seeing visions. Rabbi Nathan, weary as he 
was with his long journey, must needs go to 
the synagogue and repeat the prayers of the 
evening service for himself and the house 
of his brother Abda. Going out softly he 
put on his sandals, fastened a tiny lamp to 
each, wrapped his long mantle about him, 
tied his keffizehy which was a kerchief bound 
to the head by a cord, the corner next the 
forehead being turned back, and went noise- 
lessly down .the dark street, unlighted save 
by the tiny, twinkling lamps at his feet. 

Rabbi Nathan was especially desirous of 
praying for his brother Abda. Many of the 
Jews had been contaminated by dwelling 
among the godless Gentiles, the Galileans; 


120 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


had grown lax in their devotions, and had 
even intermarried with Gentiles. 

He at once saw that Abda was not as true 
a Jew as he should be, and he feared for him 
and his household. As he made his way 
through the narrow, crooked, roughly paved 
streets, the little lights on his feet twinkled 
cheerfully, and he chanted under his breath: 

'' ‘Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and 
a light unto my path.* 

“ ‘Unto the upright there ariseth light in 
the darkness.’ 

“ ‘In thy light shall we see light.’ 

“ ‘At evening time it shall be light,’ ” 
and other similar verses, until he reached the 
synagogue. 

On his way back he thought of Jacob, for 
the dark, proud face of the lad had impressed 
him. “He is an ambitious lad,’’ he mused; 
“he never will be content to plod along here 
in his uncle’s fields. The Hazan tells me he 
is a studious lad, and bound to be a Pharisee, 
and a Rabbi. He is full of fire and zeal; 



Going out softly he put on his sandals 


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A JEW BOY’S VOW 121 

it is not good for him to dwell in this rebellious 
country where they defy Caesar. It is policy 
for a Jew to serve his master well, and to-day 
we are under Rome. When the Messiah 
comes, it will be time to rebel. I must speak 
with Abda, and Lois. The lad needs a steady 
hand, a steady hand. Who knows? He 
may be elected to become a leader in Israel.” 

Jacob, on his way to school the next morn- 
ing, thought about his Uncle Abda much as 
had Rabbi Nathan the previous night. If 
the Messiah were to come, what would be 
the fate of the unfaithful Jews? 

Now Jacob did not know of a better man 
than his Uncle Abda, but he was not a very 
good Jew. To be sure, neither he nor his 
family ever ate with unwashed hands, or 
omitted grace before and after meat, or broke 
any law of the Sabbath; but in many things 
they were lax. Jacob was not at all sure 
that they repeated the Eighteen Benedictions 
three times every day, and Uncle Abda was 
always too busy to go to Jerusalem at the 


122 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

time of the Passover. The women were too 
fond of pretty headdresses and necklaces, and 
did not trouble themselves about going to 
the synagogue except on the Sabbath and 
feast days. If they spent more time in the 
synagogue on market days, they might not 
be so much given to frivolity. 

Arriving at the door, Jacob saw by the 
heap of shoes beside it that he was late, and 
he heard voices murmuring. They were 
repeating the Psalm for the day. 

The pupils sat on mats on the floor and 
were arranged according to their ages. There 
was a raised seat for the master, and that was 
all the furniture there was in the schoolroom. 

The younger children were given some 
simple verses from the Scriptures, carefully 
written out, and the next grade had tablets 
of wood on which they wrote their lesson 
with chalk, while the most advanced had 
parchment rolls from which they read their 
lesson. 

Jacob’s class were having severe review 


A JEW BOY’S VOW 


123 


lessons now, for they were to become Sons of 
the Law next Sabbath. While the younger 
children were repeating their lessons in a 
half-inaudible, sing-song cadence, Jacob and 
his classmates were reciting verses and prov- 
erbs and wise sayings without number. The 
taxgatherer’s son was in Jacob’s class. 

'' ‘Get close to the seller of perf tunes, if 
you want to be fragrant,’ ” muttered a lad, 
putting the words on his tablet in great 
Hebrew characters. 

“ ‘There are four who never have the face 
of God lifted upon them,” spelled out another, 
“ ‘the scoffer, the liar, the hypocrite, and the 
slanderer.’ ” 

Jacob’s attention wandered just here, and 
he heard the lesson below him more plainly 
than the master’s question. The master, 
vexed at Jacob’s carelessness at such an 
important time, passed the question to the 
next in order. It was Lucas, the publican. 

Jacob desired to excel in his class, and his 
only rival was the despised publican. Jacob 


124 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

was a thorough scholar, but slow; the pub- 
lican was quick. He, too, had caught at the 
child's lesson in the class below, but he did 
not forget to listen at the same time to the 
master. He was thinking how well that 
verse fitted Jacob at the same time Jacob 
was thinking how well it fitted him, but he 
did not lose a word of his own lesson, while 
Jacob did. 

The master was to give a medal to the 
youth who stood first in his lessons, and when 
the long examination was ended, the medal 
was presented — very reluctantly by the mas- 
ter, who had wished to give it to Jacob — to 
Lucas, the taxgatherer’s son. 

Jacob's humiliation was complete. He was 
furious. With a few harsh words to the 
Hazan and a scowl of hatred at his rival, he 
hastened out. That day he forgot to com- 
pose his features, or to finger his tallith, or to 
mutter prayers as he passed through the 
streets. Some donkeys with loaded panniers 
came down the narrow street, quite filling it. 


A JEW BOY’S VOW 


125 


but Jacob did not heed the drivers’ cries of 
warning, and would have been thrown down 
under the animals’ feet if a hand had not 
been stretched out to pull him into a recess 
in the wall, just as the nearest load grazed 
him. 

Dreamer,” laughed his cousin Julia, ''thou 
hadst best have thy lessons at home with the 
maids, if thou canst not take better heed in 
the street.” 

"An eye for an eye,” muttered Jacob, too 
absorbed by his angry thoughts to realize his 
danger. "It will be my turn some day. 
Then I will have my revenge on this publican.” 

"What aileth thee now, firebrand?” said 
Julia. "Hath Lucas made eyes at thee 
to-day?” 

"He weareth the medal that should be 
mine,” said Jacob, bitterly. 

"Why, surely the Hazan — ” but Jacob 
was gone, and Julia, perplexed and indignant 
with the Hazan, went her way, wondering 

how it could have happened. The master 
9 


126 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


had no liking for the publican, that she 
knew. 

Jacob had hastened out of the synagogue 
ahead of all the others; Lucas followed more 
slowly with his classmates. He was greatly 
astonished that the Hazan had given him the 
medal; he had not expected such an act of 
justice from a Jew. But having won it, 

' and having received it, he was jubilant. He 
had outstripped the haughty Jew, Jacob, 
and been set above him before the school. 
He would also wear the medal to-morrow at 
the Sabbath-day services in the synagogue, 
which would be crowded with people. 

“How will it please that cruel Phineas, ” 
chuckled Lucas, “who has made my brother’s 
life wretched? But she will be glad — the 
beautiful Ednah — that so much honor has 
come to the taxgatherer’s house. It is a 
cruel law that a maid may not marry without 
her brother’s consent. I am a Jew, but I 
would not be as hard as that.” 

Lucas looked in at the bazaars, bought some 


A JEW BOY’S VOW 


127 


figs of a fruit seller, and went on, musing. 
‘'I like not the laws of the Rabbis. What 
is the world coming to if every Rabbi makes 
new laws, a Rabbi’s word standing forever? 
Indeed, I believe they have half forgotten 
the Scripture, so many of the Rabbis’ laws 
have been built around it. Ah, well, but I 
have the medal! How that Jew boy Jacob 
will gnash his teeth!” 

''Much good may it do him!” Jacob was 
muttering. "Medal or no medal, he is only 
Lucas the publican, and Lucas the publican 
he will be to the end of his days; while I, I 
shall go to college at Jerusalem, and become 
a Rabbi, .and have a seat in the Sanhedrim. 
Phineas has said it; and Uncle Nathan will 
help me. I wish it were now, noiv! I ought 
to go now. 

"And when I have power,” added Jacob 
after a silence, "I shall not forget Lucas the 
publican.” 

All day in the fields at work with his brother 
and his Uncle Abda, the thought of the medal 


128 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


rankled in his mind, and when the trumpet 
call released him from work he turned his 
steps slowly homeward. It was humiliation 
to tell them that he had lost the medal, but 
bitter humiliation to confess who was the 
winner. 

It was Friday; the preparation for the 
Sabbath was made on Friday, and the Sabbath 
began at sunset. As he neared the house, he 
saw Ednah lighting the lamps on the wall that 
would burn all night in honor of the Sabbath. 
Lois, his mother, was taking out the meat and 
the cakes from the stove of stones, and carry- 
ing them to the house in readiness for the 
Sabbath, for no fire might be built on that 
holy day, and no work not absolutely neces- 
sary could be done. 

To Jacob’s delight, he found Uncle Nathan 
at the house. He was to dine with them. 
But immediately followed a thought of dis- 
may — he would have to be told! How heavy 
that medal weighed on his heart! 

He looked at his uncle so steadily that 


A JEW BOY^S VOW 


129 


the Rabbi's eyes were drawn to his. ^‘I£ 
I may but be a teacher some day, like Uncle 
Nathan," he mused. 

The good Rabbi smiled under his beard 
at the intensity of the lad’s gaze, divining 
what was in his mind. A good lad, a likely 
lad, but he needs a steady hand," he said to 
himself. 

Jacob slipped out after the evening meal, 
and made his way alone to the synagogue. 
He walked up the aisle between the stone 
pillars, the Sabbath lights flickering on either 
side, and knelt before the shrine. There 
Rabbi Nathan found him when he came in a 
little later. "It is a prayer of consecration," 
he thought. 

Jacob rose to his feet and saw Rabbi 
Nathan regarding him. "I have vowed a 
vow," said the lad. Rabbi Nathan was dis- 
turbed; he did not like the expression of 
Jacob’s eyes. 

"Tell me thy vow," the Rabbi said. 

"Nay, I have made it to God," answered 


130 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

Jacob, but his voice was hard. Rabbi Nathan 
followed him closely, and when they were in 
the street he said, gently, '‘Son, tell me the 
wish of thine heart.'' 

"It is this," said Jacob with great earnest- 
ness, "that I might go to Jerusalem to the 
Passover." 

In silence they passed through the street. 
The Rabbi made no reply to Jacob's petition. 

When he had entered the house, Jacob 
went to the red-painted chest at the side of 
the room, — the only furniture besides the 
bench and the little table, — opened it, and 
looked at the beautiful white wool garment 
his sister Ednah had woven for his freedom 
day; then he lay down to sleep, faithfully 
repeating his prayers, and last of all his vow: 

" 'An eye for an eye!' O God of heaven 
and earth, curse me this Lucas, the publican 1 " 


CHAPTER X 


THE DESIRE OF HIS HEART 

‘‘TV yr AKE me a great Rabbi, O God, and 

-LVA curse Lucas the publican ! ” were the 
words that first came from Jacob's lips the 
next morning. 

It should have been a glad day, a solemnly 
glad day, this greatest day of Jacob's life, 
but he had brought to it too much bitterness 
and hatred. There were two monster clouds 
in his sky that threatened to cause a total 
eclipse; the one was the thought of his post- 
poned visit to Jerusalem, and the other the 
thought of Lucas the publican with the medal. 

At the gate of the synagogue Jacob waited 
with his Uncle Nathan for the women to 
join them. They soon appeared, and Jacob 
was further vexed at the sound of the tinkling 
of the bells on Julia's anklets as she neared 
the gate. He gave one glance at the veiled 
figure, knowing that it was decked with an 
131 


132 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

unbecoming number of ornaments. Only 
matrons should wear many ornaments. 

In the mapping out of his life, Jacob had 
arranged some day to marry Julia, his cousin 
and playmate. First, he loved her better 
than any of the maids, despite her frivolity 
and vanity, and second, she was as beautiful 
as a queen; third, her father had great 
possessions. 

It troubled him that Julia cared for nothing 
but adorning herself and being admired; but 
once his wife, and settled at Jerusalem away 
from her easy-going people, he believed he 
could make a model Jewess of her. 

As they passed in, a hideous beggar by 
the gate drew their attention. The women 
kept on, but Jacob tossed a piece of money, 
and the beggar muttered half inaudible 
thanks, looking after the haughty Jew boy 
with a scowl. But another lad immediately 
withdrew his attention; it was Lucas, the 
publican. He laughed, and threw a metal 
button into the beggar’s hand. 


THE DESIRE OF HIS HEART 133 


'‘Old hypocrite r’ the beggar muttered. 
“He is one of the richest men in Nazareth 
to-day, no doubt,” and he cast the button 
at Lucas with a wrathful imprecation. 

Lucas looked back and saw Jesus, the car- 
penter, press a piece of money into the beg- 
gar’s hand and say a few words to him, but 
so low they were inaudible. The wretched 
creature looked up with tears coursing down 
his shrunken cheeks, and he cried aloud, 
“The God of our father Abraham bless thee ! ” 

The taxgatherer’s son had a new look on 
his face as he passed in at the gate. He 
turned again, took a step toward Jesus, 
hesitated, then went his way. 

Rabbi Nathan also had observed the little 
scene, and for the first time in his life came 
the thought that there might be something 
greater than being a Jew and a Rabbi. 

Jacob, with surprise, saw the great Rabbi 
enter the synagogue with his head bowed 
upon his breast in an attitude of humility, 
instead of pacing the aisle with uplifted face 


134 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


and stately head, looking, as Jacob thought, 
as grand as a king. 

Jacob loved to think of the Temple when 
he was in the synagogue. The platform was 
the altar, the shrine the Holy of Holies. 
There was the ever-burning lamp before it, 
and the great branched lamp, as at the 
Temple. Every detail of the service he 
listened to to-day as he never had before, 
and was prouder than ever before that he was 
a Jew. 

He tried to preserve a stolid countenance 
when he and his companions were called to 
the platform, but his heartbeats came in 
great throbs, his eyes gleamed like coals of 
fire, he held his head never so high, and his 
bearing was never so proud. To the women 
watching through the lattice he seemed the 
handsomest lad and the truest Jew in Naza- 
reth. 

'‘The true son of a Pharisee,” thought 
Rabbi Nathan, as his eyes followed him, 
“but so fiery and passionate I fear they will 


THE DESIRE OF HIS HEART 135 

make a Zealot of him if he remains here in 
Nazareth/’ 

The sight of Lucas with the medal only 
set Jacob’s head higher. He would ignore 
both the fellow and the medal. What was 
a medal on a publican! 

After the consecration exercises the regular 
service began. In listening to the reading 
of the Song of Moses at the passage of the 
Red Sea, Jacob forgot his enemy; the blood 
leaped in his veins at the triumphant cry. 
Surely the mighty Jehovah was able to 
accomplish all things! He would redeem his 
people. Rome should fall, and the Jew 
should ascend the throne. 

When the prayer was read, a prayer of 
praise that the Jews believe is heard in heaven, 
Jacob listened with joy and trembling, but 
when the second prayer was repeated his 
heart cried out in almost an agony of be- 
seeching, ‘^Save us. Eternal God! Blessed 
be thou, O Eternal, who of old didst redeem 
Israel!” 


136 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

The most fervent “Amen!” that had ever 
passed his lips responded; his voice was but 
one of hundreds. 

After that grand Amen, followed responses 
that were of themselves an inspiration. The 
Hallelujah that closed the reading rose from 
the synagogue like a great shout, a trium- 
phant shout, that made the Roman governor 
and his retinue turn themselves uneasily 
from their feasting and exclaim about the 
foolish Jews gone mad over their worship. 
But in their hearts they cursed them for a 
dangerous people, and would have been far 
better pleased if they had not been so 
devoted. 

After the Hallelujah, that seemed a proph- 
ecy and shout of victory. Rabbi Nathan was 
invited to take the desk. He slowly made his 
way to the platform and turned his face 
toward the assembled people. Slowly, he 
opened the Scripture and read: “ 'He hath 
clothed me with the garments of salvation.’ ” 
Then followed the sermon. 


THE DESIRE OF HIS HEART 137 

Jacob listened while the Rabbi discoursed 
of the seven garments of the Holy One 
mentioned in Scripture. It was a wonderful 
sermon, and Jacob thought he would never 
desire greater honor than some day to be 
able to deliver a sermon like that. 

''When the Holy One created the world,” 
said Rabbi Nathan, "he clothed himself 
with glory and honor, — ' Thou art clothed with 
honor and majesty.’ When he showed him- 
self at the Red Sea, he clothed himself in 
majesty, — 'The Lord reigneth, he is clothed 
with majesty.’ When he gave the Law, he 
clothed himself with might, — 'The Lord is 
clothed with strength wherewith he hath 
girded himself.’ As often as he forgave Is- 
rael its sins, he clothed himself in white, — 
'His raiment was white as snow.’ When 
he pimishes the nations of the world he puts 
on garments of vengeance, — 'He put on the 
garments of vengeance for clothing, and was 
clad with zeal as a cloak.’ 

"He will put on the sixth robe when the 


138 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

Messiah is revealed. Then he will clothe 
himself in righteousness, — ‘He put on right- 
eousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of 
salvation upon his head.' 

“He will put on the seventh robe when he 
punishes Edom. Then will he clothe him- 
self in red, — ‘Wherefore art thou red in thine 
apparel? ' 

“But the robes with which he will clothe 
the Messiah will shine from one end of the 
earth to the other. And the sons of Israel 
will rejoice in his light, and will say. 
Blessed be the hour when the Messiah 
was born, blessed the eyes that were counted 
worthy to see him. For the opening of 
his lips is blessing and peace. His speech 
is rest to the soul, the thoughts of his heart 
confidence and joy, the speech of his lips 
pardon and forgiveness, his prayer like sweet- 
smelling savor of a sacrifice, his supplications 
holiness and purity.' 

“O how blessed is Israel, for whom a lot 
is reserved, — ‘How great is thy goodness. 


THE DESIRE OF HIS HEART 139 

which thou hast laid up for them that fear 
thee!’ ” 

The remainder of the service passed un- 
heeded; Jacob’s heart was on fire with the 
wonderful words he had heard. Oh, for that 
garment of salvation! All his life should 
be given to God; the Messiah should find 
him ready. 

As he knelt, a great peace stole into his 
heart; it was as if one had blessed him. 
Long he knelt, fearing to disturb this sweet 
peace. Not until a great rustling sound told 
him the people were departing, did he rise 
to his feet, and then he saw standing beside 
him, Jesus. 

''When will it be?” questioned Jacob, as he 
and Rabbi Nathan walked homeward. 

"The time is at hand, even at our door,” 
answered the Rabbi. "All the prophecies 
and signs point to the present time.” 

Jacob thrilled. It was really to be in his 
day! Then he sighed with impatience, for 


140 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


he would be at Jerusalem watching with the 
doctors and the priests. 

'^Son,” said Rabbi Nathan as they stood 
in the porch before entering the house, ''the 
desire of thine heart is granted thee; thou 
mayst return with me to my home.” 


CHAPTER XI 


FROM NAZARETH TO JERUSALEM 

J ULIA ran across the field that lay 
between her house and Jacob’s, laughing 
and singing as she ran, snatching at the 
blossoms in her path and twisting them in 
her braids, or tossing them up in the air. 
It was early, and when she pushed open the 
door and skipped in unceremoniously there 
was instant commotion, — bleating, cackling, 
barking, and the patter of scurrying feet. 

The house of Phineas, like most of the 
houses of Nazareth, had but one room, and 
half of this was occupied by the sheep, fowls, 
and dogs. A raised floor separated the family 
from the creatures. 

Julia laughed loudly, and clapped her 
hands at sight of the startled sheep and hens, 
not halting in her headlong speed until she 
had reached the family apartment. 

' ' J acob ! J acob ! ’ ’ she cried . ' ' I am going 

141 


10 


142 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


to Jerusalem with you and Aunt Lois and 
Cousin Ednah. If you will have me,” she 
added, looking up at one and another with 
so bright a face that it would have been a 
hard heart indeed that could refuse her. 

''Uncle Nathan says I may go, and I could 
hardly wait till morning to tell the news. 
Come, let us take the flock to the hills. We 
will be back before the cakes are baked.” 
Julia skipped through the disturbed flock 
again, throwing the door wide open and 
laughing merrily to see how they scrambled 
out, shouldering each other in their haste. 
The sheep had had their morning meal, and 
would drink at the spring below the town. 

"Phineas will- need to build a shed before 
another season,” said Jacob; "the house is 
crowded.” When the last sheep had skipped 
over the threshold he joined Julia, who was 
impatiently calling, outside. 

"Here, heedless one,” said Lois from the 
door, "take the jars and bring back some 
fresh water. Do not forget the herbs.” 


FROM NAZARETH TO JERUSALEM 143 

Julia ran back for the jars, Jacob relieving 
her of one when she had rejoined him. 

'‘What think you?’' began Julia as soon 
as they were well on their way. "We are 
going through Samaria.” 

Many Jews went by the highway on the 
east of the Jordan, because they hated the 
Samaritans, and because they feared robbers. 

"Uncle Nathan would not go through 
Samaria at first, for fear of Barabbas, who 
has come again with a lot of men, and nearly 
every caravan is robbed. But the centurion 
who built the beautiful synagogue at Caper- 
naum is traveling this way with a squadron 
of horsemen, and he has promised his pro- 
tection. I am so glad; we shall get there 
so much more quickly. And the centurion 
is going to fight that bold robber when he 
returns to Jerusalem.” 

Julia paused to take breath, and Jacob 
observed, "How thy tongue wags this mom- 
ing!” 

Julia only laughed at this, and said saucily, 


144 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

have to do the talking for two.*' Jacob 
was slow of speech, and mostly silent. 

Spying some women washing linen by the 
spring, Julia ran down and began to tell them 
about her good fortune. One woman rubbed 
the linen between the stones, while the other 
poured on the water as fast as it was needed. 

went to Jerusalem once when I was a 
maid," said the woman pouring the water. 
'‘There are finer shops there than here, and 
grand castles, and palaces, and splendid man- 
sions where the rich Sadducees live. And 
the Temple! There is nothing else in the 
world like the Temple." 

Julia had listened with parted lips to the 
woman's discourse, but at mention of the 
Temple, Jacob's eyes began to glow. The 
woman would have enlarged her story if a 
crowd of camels, donkeys, and men had not 
come up just then, and hastened the chil- 
dren's departure. 

The caravan in which Rabbi Nathan and 
his party were to travel started in the night 


FROM NAZARETH TO JERUSALEM 145 

to avoid the heat of the day. They were a 
gay company. The Jew’s heart rejoiced 
when his steps were ttimed toward Jerusalem. 
The singers chanted, and the musicians 
played, and happy voices called one to 
another. The torches held in the hands of 
the pilgrims dipped and flared, and made a 
long serpentine track of light as they made 
their way down the mountain. 

Besides the people traveling on foot, there 
were people mounted on camels, mules, and 
horses, and camels and mules loaded with 
merchandise and traveling boxes; while at 
the front and rear were the Roman militia. 

Julia was much interested in watching the 
caravan. Everything loomed up to such an 
unnatural size in the indistinct and fitful 
light — the camels were monsters, and the 
men giants, and every hill was a mountain, 
while the mountains themselves reached unto 
heaven. 

In the morning they had crossed Esdraelon 
and Engannim — the Gardens of Fountains — 


146 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

and entered Samaria. Julia thought the 
Holy City itself could hardly be more splendid 
than the city of Samaria, now called Sebastieh, 
with its temple, public buildings, triumphal 
arches, baths, and theaters, and its great wall 
with its beautiful gates. It was now a 
Roman city, but the Samaritan Jews were 
as proud of their city as were the Judean 
Jews of theirs. 

Jacob looked on this city with no favor. 
He remembered that the Samaritans had 
built a temple on Mount Gerizim and claimed 
that it was more holy than the Temple at 
Jerusalem. And to this day, so long after 
their temple had been destroyed by the Jews, 
they declared that Mount Gerizim was more 
holy than Mount Moriah. 

‘"This,” said a voice at Jacob’s side, ‘'this 
Mount Gerizim is Ararat, where Noah’s ark 
rested. I can show you where Noah builded 
his altar, and the seven steps where he offered 
seven sacrifices. The little ones showed me 
the place when I was here last year.” 


FROM NAZARETH TO JERUSALEM 147 

Jacob turned and found himself face to 
face with Lucas the publican. 

'‘They know where Abraham bound Isaac, 
and where the ram was caught in the thicket,” 
continued Lucas, as Jacob did not deign to 
speak. “There's a big, flat stone at the top, 
where Jacob rested his head and dreamed such 
a wonderful dream. Up there, too, Joshua 
built his first altar after the conquest of the 
land and set up twelve stones, one for each 
tribe of Israel.” 

Jacob drew Julia aside, and Lucas, finding 
he persisted in being unfriendly, passed on. 

“Is it true,” asked Julia “that Mount 
Gerizim is Ararat?” 

“It is not true, at all,” said Jacob. “So 
they say that Moses hid the tabernacle and 
everything in it on that same mount; and 
they say that there the Messiah will first 
appear, and bring the hidden things to light 
again; but every true Jew knows it is not so. 
They look to Gerizim when they pray, too, 
as the true Jew looks to Jerusalem. They 


148 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


are no Jews; they are a mixed race. They 
never can be pure Jews, for the blood of the 
heathen flows in their veins. They think 
by keeping the laws of Moses strictly to make 
themselves better Jews than the Judeans.” 

Jacob turned away in disgust, and Julia 
sought Ednah and Lois, and told them what 
Lucas had said. ”No man knows,” said 
Ednah, “whether the story of Moses be true; 
neither Jacob nor Lucas, nor any other Jew. 
And for the Messiah, no man knows where 
his first appearing will be.” 

The caravan halted at Jacob’s Well. There 
was a little alcove under the trees near the 
well, and Ednah and Julia rested there, glad 
of the cool shade, and looked out upon the 
beautiful scene before them. The bare, brown 
hills, steep and high, lifted their heads to the 
sky, and between them and the city Shechem 
spread the green valley with its water spring, 
singing on its way. The city itself was almost 
hidden in its gardens and orchards; and the 
great plain that stretched far on either side 


FROM NAZARETH TO JERUSALEM 149 


was rich with cornfields, olive trees, and 
vineyards; and beyond the plain, the hills 
again. 

'‘Here,’’ said Ednah, “onr father Jacob 
lived. He bought this piece of ground and 
digged this well. No one knows the depth 
of it. It was years in building. Here Joseph 
was buried. Here Joshua gathered the tribes 
to read to them the Law, the blessings on 
Mount Gerizim and the curses on Mount 
Ebal. And here the judges and kings reigned. 
Out on that great plain the hosts of Israel 
gathered. Ah, ’ ’ Ednah sighed, ‘ ‘ now Samaria 
is the only peaceful country; Galilee and 
Judea are in perpetual revolt. How many 
hundreds of lives are sacrificed, and all in 
vain! The heel of the tyrant is too heavy. 
Not till the Messiah comes will we be 
freed.” 

They were soon on their way again. Rabbi 
Nathan and his party took a little footpath 
over the hills through the fields of flowers; 
and groves of almond, walnut, pomegranate. 


150 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

pear, and plum trees were vibrating with the 
songs of birds. 

is like Nazareth, only more beautiful,’’ 
said Julia. I am sure I hear finches singing, 
and that — that is a blackbird! And the 
cactus hedges about the gardens look so like 
our own. And how the waters sing all about 
us! I wish there were fountains and brooks 
at Nazareth.” 

^^Our many great cisterns are better than 
fountains,” said Jacob. 

Julia laughed. She was not in the least 
proud like Jacob. ‘'I like fountains and 
singing brooks better,” she said. ''The peo- 
ple are happier here, too; they do not fight.” 

"No; they make friends with the Romans, 
to get favors. A craven people; no Jews are 
they. At Jerusalem they will not endure the 
Romans’ desecration of the city; they rebel, 
and so there is always commotion. They 
must suffer, for they are not strong enough 
to conquer; but they never will submit. 
But the Samaritans, they love the ways of 


FROM NAZARETH TO JERUSALEM 151 

the Roman. Oh, yes, how they love them! 
They love to see the Roman palaces and 
theaters and ensign in their cities. Judea 
hated Herod because he became a Roman, 
but Samaria called him her 'good king.’ 

"I will tell you a story,” Jacob went on. 
"The Samaritans are cursed above all Jews. 
It is a tradition that a special curse was put 
upon the Samaritans by Ezra, Zerubbabel, 
and Joshua. All the congregation of Israel- 
ites was called together in the Temple, and 
three hundred trumpets, three hundred books 
of the Law, and three hundred scholars of the 
Law repeated all the curses of the Law against 
the Samaritans. It is better,” concluded 
Jacob, "to be a heathen than a Samaritan.” 

Julia sighed. "I like the looks of the 
people, and I would there were houses at 
Nazareth like those in Shechem. They were 
high, three rows of windows in some, and 
little balconies. I like windows. But the 
streets were no better than ours.” 

Jacob looked at Julia and thought perhaps 


152 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

it had been better to have left her at Nazareth. 
By the time of their return she might despise 
her humble home. 

‘'The mountains of Galilee are more than 
all the fine shows in Samaria/' he said. 
Julia looked off at the line of round-topped 
hills, all nearly of a height, the fiat valley, 
and the broad meadows. But she was bent 
on teasing Jacob. “It looks prosperous," 
she observed. 

They were soon in the land of Judah, and 
on the following morning the long caravan, 
with its flocks of sheep and goats, camels 
and mules, its many pilgrims with their staffs 
in their hands, many men of many nations, 
besides the women and children, and first 
and last the Roman escort, wound slowly 
around the steep ridge that hid the city of 
cities, the Mecca of the Jews, Jerusalem. 
Slowly the ridge is gained, and weary foot- 
steps grow eager, and hearts beat fast. No 
oppression can crush out the Jew's love for 
his own people and his own city. 


FROM NAZARETH TO JERUSALEM 153 

To many of the company this was their 
first view of Jerusalem. As fast as they 
came in sight of the city they fell upon their 
knees in adoration, and in supplication to 
the God of their father Abraham to restore 
to them their loved city. 

Jacob was one of the first to reach the 
summit. When the fair vision of the white 
city burst upon his view, glittering in the 
sunlight like burnished gold, with its towers 
and domes and great wall, he gave a cry 
and bowed himself to the earth. 

It was more than all his dreams. When 
he rose to his feet again he shouted, '‘Beautiful 
for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is 
Mount Zion . . . the city of the great King. 
. . . As we have heard, so have we seen in 
the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our 
God: God will establish it for ever. . . . 
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be 
moved. God shall help her, and that right 
early!” 

Rabbi Nathan laid a hand upon the excited 


154 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

lad's arm. He himself was not unmoved, 
and to the Jews who had come up with him 
the lad's shout seemed like a prophecy. 
With the glittering city before them like a 
vision descended from heaven, and the tower- 
ing mountains set about it, it was easy to 
believe there was a future for the Jews. 
They all gazed upon the city with awestruck 
faces, and prostrated themselves before it. 

*‘If God is in the midst of her, so too is 
Rome at the present time," said some one 
standing near Rabbi Nathan. Jacob turned 
and beheld a rich Jew who had joined the 
caravan. His sharp, bright eyes regarded 
Jacob shrewdly. His long beard and his 
costly garments had attracted Jacob's notice 
early in the journey. '‘Rich and powerful 
Jews like this prince," he thought, "would 
help mightily in restoring the kingdom." 
He opened his lips to address the prince, when, 
just behind him, he saw two Romans in 
military costumes, holding their horses' bridles 
and regarding him with a cynical incredulity. 


FROM NAZARETH TO JERUSALEM 155 

''A firebrand from Galilee, if I mistake 
not,’’ said one, with a laugh. 

Rabbi Nathan led Jacob away, feeling 
more strongly than ever that he needed a 
restraining hand, and shrinking a little from 
the thought of handling such inflammable 
material. 

All this time Ednah had been standing 
close beside her mother and Rabbi Nathan, 
looking and listening with awe and wonder 
and an ecstasy of joy she did not understand. 
But more than Jerusalem with all its glory, 
was to her the thought of l^he little city 
Bethlehem beyond the walls and towers; 
Bethlehem, with its cave. 

Ednah, looking to the right, saw what 
Jacob did not, and what no one but herself 
appeared to notice; a little group, a family 
group. It was Joseph the carpenter, with 
his wife Mary, and Jesus. Jesus was stand- 
ing quietly a little apart, looking earnestly — 
sadly, Ednah thought — in the direction 
whence all eyes were turned. 


156 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

“He mourns for Jerusalem; he cannot be 
glad,“ thought Ednah; and crossing over to 
the place where he stood she asked, anxiously, 
“Thinkest thou that the time of the Messiah 
is at hand?” 

“ Yea,“ was the answer. 

Rabbi Nathan was hurrying Jacob down 
the hill, and Lois called to Ednah and Julia, 
the latter asking, as she came up, breathless 
from running, “And is that the Temple 
nearest us, that shines so white and so 
bright?” 

“What else could it be?” was Lois's 
answer. 

Julia held fast to Rabbi Nathan’s hand 
as they made their way down the hill, thinking 
of the many wonderful stories she had been 
told about the Temple. Many a time she 
had looked from the Nazareth hills to far-off 
Lebanon, and listened to Jacob as he talked 
of good King Hiram of Tyre, who sent the 
cedars of Lebanon to King Solomon to help 
build the Temple, and the thousands of men 


FROM NAZARETH TO JERUSALEM 157 

the two kings sent to hew them. She was 
always sorry, when she listened to the story, 
that King David had to keep so busy fighting 
the enemies of his people that he could not 
build the Temple in his day. 

Not the least wonderful of the stories Julia 
had been told was that of the stones of which 
the Temple was builded. She drew a deep 
breath. '‘Can it be true. Uncle Nathan,” 
she asked, "that every stone was made ready 
to fit in its place before it was taken to the 
Mount?” 

" It is true,” said Rabbi Nathan. " ' There 
was neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of 
iron heard in the house while it was in 
building.’ ” 

"And Jacob says that thousands and 
thousands of men worked on it a week of 
years,” said Julia. 

Ednah smiled. "There is nothing Jacob 
so loves to talk of as the Temple.” 

There was a clattering of horses’ hoofs 

coming down the hill, and two of the Roman 

11 


158 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


officers dashed by, with ringing spurs and 
dazzling shields. 

A silence fell on the little party. For a 
moment they forgot their pride in their 
city, their Temple — theirs, with Roman sol- 
diers in the fortress of David, and the Roman 
governor, Pontius Pilate, in the palace of 
kings. 

Ednah sighed. “If our people had but 
kept the commandments of Jehovah, and not 
given themselves to idols, the Temple would 
not have been thrice destroyed, nor to-day 
be in the hands of the enemy. “ 

“And there is fear that the Temple will be 
taken from us some day,’' said Lois, raising 
her eyes to the glittering white vision. Then, 
after a long look, she drew her veil close and 
spoke no more. 

“Oh, if it were not for the promise of the 
Messiah,” said Ednah, “we should despair.” 

“And this is Olivet,” said Julia. “We are 
almost there, then.” 

The road now wound around the Mount, 


FROM NAZARETH TO JERUSALEM 159 

beautiful with its terraced gardens, while 
across the valley Jerusalem again burst upon 
the vision of the pilgrims. Its steep sides 
made the narrow valley look like a deep 
trench, and the city itself seemed a great 
fortress. 

‘‘See, Julia!” cried Jacob. “That great 
white tower is David's tower. Think of it! 
King David built it. And see the grand old 
castle beyond the Temple! It is the castle 
King Melchizedek built; Melchizedek, the 
first king of Jerusalem, and the friend of our 
father Abraham. Think of it!” 

Julia gazed with awestruck eyes, but Ednah 
and Lois thought on the Roman ensign flash- 
ing in the sunlight. 


CHAPTER XII 


BECAUSE I LOVE THEE 

J ACOB kept the figure of Lucas the pub- 
lican well in his vision. He was not so 
absorbed in Jerusalem that he forgot Lucas. 
Indeed, he had been out of Jacob's mind 
scarcely an hour since he discovered him in 
the caravan. Was his visit to the Holy City 
to be marred by his presence? Was Lucas 
to follow him like a mocking shadow, every- 
where he went? 

Lucas was mounted now; Jacob caught a 
glimpse of the gold-embroidered saddle cloth, 
and he pushed forward. The road down the 
Mount to the Kedron valley was steep, and 
on one side precipitous in places. Jacob 
drew nearer. The sky darkened, and in an 
instant they were in the midst of a tempest 
such as was frequent at that time of the year. 
Jacob was beside the horse with the gold- 
embroidered saddle cloth. It were nothing 


BECAUSE I LOVE THEE i6i 


strange if the horse took sudden fright at 
one of those blinding flashes of lightning and 
crashing peals of thunder, and dashed out 
of the narrow path over the side of the 
precipice. 

Jacob raised his staff, but before it could 
descend his arm was arrested. He turned 
about, too angry at the interference to take 
alarm at being discovered. It was Jesus 
who stayed his hand. 

Jacob tried to wrest his arm from the firm 
grasp. '‘Why preventest thou me?” he de- 
manded sullenly, in a guarded undertone. 

“Because I love thee.” 

Jacob’s arm fell. The look and the words 
melted him. But he did not understand. 
If he loved him, why did he not aid him in 
taking his revenge on the publican, instead 
of thwarting him? Perhaps he feared he 
would get into trouble; perhaps some one 
had been watching. 

Jacob had but an instant to think about 
this riddle, for Lucas had turned in time to 


i 62 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

see the motion he made, and he understood 
it. In a fury he threw himself from his 
horse, and dashed at Jacob with a menacing 
face. 

The hand that stayed Jacob's wrath now 
stretched out to the infuriated publican. 
'‘Peace; go thy way," said Jesus. 

The lad cried out, "Leave me to deal with 
him, the hypocrite! The dog of a Jew! " 

"See thou hurt him not," said Jesus, 
looking into the lad's face with such a look 
of solicitude that Lucas thought, as he beheld 
it, "How he loves him ! " 

"Thou art not just," said Lucas. "Why 
preventest thou me?" 

"Because I love thee." 

Lucas was struck dumb with astonishment. 
Was that look of loving solicitude for him? 

Jacob, with a scornful smile, turned away. 
What, then, was this publican, this hated 
enemy, to hold an equal place with him in 
this man's heart? Truly, to Jesus all men 
were brethren. 


BECAUSE I LOVE THEE 163 

When Jacob looked back, Lucas was walk- 
ing toward his horse slowly, with bowed 
head, and Jesus was dispersing the crowd 
that had gathered. The tempest was past, 
the sun was shining, and all the green world 
about them was aglisten with millions of 
raindrops. The two women, Ednah and 
Lois, delayed to peer under the broad leaves 
of a wayside fig tree for fruit. They found 
three figs on the trunk of the tree and gave 
one to Julia, the other two to some children 
near by. 

‘^They are not like the figs of Nazareth,’’ 
said Julia, with a wry face. 

‘'They are wild figs,” said Lois; “they 
have been on the tree all winter. Too often, 
at this time, there is nothing but leaves.” 

Jacob now joined them. “This valley. 
Uncle Nathan told me, was once King Solo- 
mon’s gardens.” 

“Look, Jacob, look!” cried Julia. “The 
gate! See the gate!” 

High above them towered the massive 


i 64 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

carved stonework, with its great arch and 
its towers, and Jacob, looking up, seemed to 
grow taller and broader at the sight. 

“ 'Thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, 
and thy gates Praise,’ ” said Ednah. 

"This is the kind of gate Sampson tore 
off its hinges and carried to the hilltop,” said 
Jacob, eying the stout doors with their great 
bolts and bars. 

"And there is a chamber over the gate 
like that one where David went and wept 
for his son Absalom,” said Ednah. 

The tents and booths that were scattered 
over Olivet, and all the way up to Jerusalem, 
grew more frequent now; and the way was 
thronged with people, pilgrims come to keep 
the Passover. 

The caravan was broken up; some had 
remained on the other side of Kedron, others 
were to lodge in tents, and others to visit 
friends in the city. The khans were already 
filled to overflowing. The tents, booths, and 
awnings, cattle and people, camels, donkeys. 


BECAUSE I LOVE THEE 165 


and dogs, traders and travelers, and wares of 
every description made a confusion of sight 
and sound compared with which a market 
day at Nazareth was a calm. The shrill and 
hoarse voices of the dealers rose above the 
braying, bleating, and barking as they ges- 
ticulated and cried their wares. 

The shade under the vaulted gateway was 
very grateful after the long journey in the 
scorching heat, and Lois and Ednah and the 
children were glad to rest a few moments 
in a safe corner, while Rabbi Nathan went 
to the Roman guard and showed their pass- 
ports, and paid for the entrance of the mules 
that had brought them on their journey. 

They bought some water of one of the rough 
looking fellows who were running about 
rattling their brass cups, and shouting, May 
God compassionate me!'’ their short, grimy 
frocks, bare legs, and long beards giving 
them a very uninviting appearance, and the 
patched goatskin bottles lashed to their 
backs did not look tempting. Others of the 


i66 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


same stamp shouted still more lustily, ‘‘Honey 
of wine!” but Ednah begged that they buy 
of the discouraged looking peasant women 
who sat by the wall, and called, in voices 
lost in the din, ‘‘Honey of wine!” 

Ednah had been looking at the gray gowns, 
and striped yellow and white veils twisted 
about the head and shoulders of these women, 
thinking that they looked more like home 
than an 3 rthing she had seen since starting 
on her journey. Then she observed the 
tired faces. 

The women looked very glad when Rabbi 
Nathan went over to them. “The peace of 
the God of Abraham be with you,” they 
said to him. 

There were other women in this market- 
place before the great Damascus gate; dark- 
skinned women in long blue and white 
gowns, with bright-colored kerchiefs on their 
heads, carrying large baskets of cucumbers 
and onions, lentils, and all manner of early 
vegetables. 


BECAUSE I LOVE THEE 167 

Rabbi Nathan told them they were from 
Bethany and Siloam. Troops of donkeys 
from a greater distance, Bethlehem perhaps, 
the Rabbi said, were led by boys in white 
tunics fastened by broad red leather belts. 
Bethlehem women, too, in gowns of blue or 
striped crimson and yellow, with long white 
linen veils, carried baskets of fruit on their 
heads, — figs and dates and oranges. Later 
they would have grapes, apricots, pomegran- 
ates, and prickly pears. 

There were golden heaps of oranges and 
lemons, and also of roses, which were bought 
by weight to be used for conserves and attar 
of roses. 

“There are never such great gatherings 
at any time as at the time of the Passover,” 
said Rabbi Nathan. “Little daughter, look 
there, and see the doves.” 

Ednah and Julia looked in the direction 
the Rabbi indicated, and saw a very noisy 
fellow pacing up and down before a heap of 
cages full of doves, ducks, and pigeons. 


i68 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

“Poor things!’* said Ednah, looking at the 
pretty heads of the doves thrust through the 
bars. '‘It is cruel that they must be impris- 
oned and then taken out only to die. They 
will all be sold for offerings at the Temple, 
will they not?” 

“How many, many innocent things must 
die for our sins,” said Lois, — “the doves and 
the pigeons and the lambs.” 

They were now refreshed, and took their 
way through the city, past the gay bazaars, 
which were nothing but small stalls raised a 
little above the street. Here were the dry- 
goods merchants, pottery and hardware 
dealers, tailors, shoemakers, tinsmiths, dealers 
in fine linen, embroideries, and jewelry. 
Here, too, were the growers with their 
supplies of rice and coffee, spices and loaf 
sugar, dried fruits and nuts. 

The tired donkeys stumbled along over the 
smooth round stones of the pavement, and 
still on they went, under the shadowed arch- 
ways made by the chambers of the houses 


BECAUSE I LOVE THEE 169 

built over the streets, which afforded a wel- 
come protection from the scorching sun that 
beat upon Jerusalem six months of the year. 
There were no sidewalks, and shops and 
dwellings were built on a line with the street, 
which was narrow and crooked. 

They left the streets of shops and entered 
one where were dwellings. They halted at 
one more pretentious than the rest. It was 
two storied, and had a latticed window built 
out of its wall of stone, which greatly pleased 
Julia. And to think that she was going to 
visit in a house that had windows and apart- 
ments! 

Rabbi Nathan knocked at the gate, in 
which was a little wicket gate opened by the 
porter, who was kindly saluted by the Rabbi 
and bowed himself to the pavement, evincing 
much joy at his master’s return. 

Remembering that the gates are built in 
the side of the house, and the houses built 
around an open space called a court, it will 
be plain that one entering the gate must pass 


170 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


under the house through a passageway into 
the court, and in the court are the stairs 
that lead to the upper floors. 

Into such a court entered the little party. 
The court was set with shrubbery and vines, 
some of the shrubbery in blossom, and the 
vines clambering over the walls and up to 
the latticed verandas that ran around three 
sides of the court. 

In the center of the court rose a patri- 
archal palm, the pride of Rabbi Nathan's 
heart. '‘The palm in the court of the king's 
palace cannot compare with this," he said. 
"It is the last object in Jerusalem the sun 
shines on at night." 

Ednah looked up and up and up, to the 
crown of feathery leaves that glistened in 
the fast vanishing sunlight. 

On either side the palm were tiny fountains 
that sent up a veil of mist, cooling the air 
and spraying some rare ferns. And around 
the court, under the veranda, were the 
leewans, their arched openings hung with 


BECAUSE I LOVE THEE 171 

blue and white striped curtains that floated 
softly in the still, cool air of the court, and 
invited to rest and refreshment. 

Athaliah, the wife of Rabbi Nathan, came 
to greet them and bid them welcome. She 
was a noble Jewish matron with a most 
kindly countenance, and Julia’s heart went 
out to her immediately, while Jacob’s pride 
was much strengthened at the sight of such 
a queenly aunt. 

Athaliah led Ednah and her mother and 
Julia up the stairs to the veranda, and into 
a chamber opening from it, and with her own 
hands brought the basin of water for them, 
and set a little table of refreshments. Julia 
was silent from awe and delight. The house 
with its carved pillars and arches, its terraces 
and its many chambers, its blue and white 
tiled floors, its striped draperies, its great 
oaken rafters, its stools and tables and cush- 
ioned divans, was to her as grand as a palace. 

In her eyes, Athaliah was no less grand 
than the house. So tall and queenly, in her 


172 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

white robes, with rings and anklets and 
necklace of gleaming gold! About her head 
was wound a striped scarf of silk tissue, and 
her fingers sparkled with jewels. 

They rested until the cool of the day, and 
after the evening meal went up to the house- 
top, where was a beautiful garden, and several 
little summer chambers covered with vines. 
At the end of the roof was a tower with open 
arches on each side, and in this tower they 
sat or reclined while they talked of their 
journey and of the Passover, and chanted 
their evening hymns. The moonlight flooded 
the garden and the tower; below them lay the 
city, hidden in shadows, and far beyond, 
the mountains rose darkly against the sky, 
while the stars looked down calmly, even as 
they looked on Nazareth. 

That night, in her little blue and white 
chamber, Julia lay down to rest with this last 
thought, '‘Oh, if I might be a great lady and 
have as many rings as Aunt Athaliah!'’ while 
Jacob, in his chamber, kissed his tallith again 


BECAUSE I LOVE THEE 173 


and again, murmuring, '‘Jerusalem! At last, 
Jerusalem!'' And Lucas the publican, in 
the best chamber of the finest inn at Jeru- 
salem, saw, amidst all the confusion of cos- 
tumes and faces, one face bend over him with 
loving solicitude, and heard above the babel 
of sounds a voice, a voice inexpressibly tender, 
saying, “Because I love thee.'' 


12 


CHAPTER XIII 


THE PASSOVER 

E arly in the morning Julia left her 
little curtained couch, and stealing 
across the blue and white tiled floor she 
ascended the veranda .stairs to the roof of 
the house. 

It was not yet sunrise, and it was so still 
and dim she could hardly believe this was the 
same city she had entered amid such confusion 
and traffic the previous day. 

While she looked, the purple shadows in 
the east began to glow with flame as if an 
angel had touched them with a coal from the 
altars of heaven. The morning star, with 
slow palpitations, melted into this glory and 
was forgotten in the glowing splendor. 

Julia stood like one in a trance, watching 
the morning sky brighten again, and just as 
all the glory seemed to concentrate and deepen 
about one spot, she was startled almost into 


174 


THE PASSOVER 


175 


terror by the sudden peal of a thousand silver 
trumpets, blown by the priests from the walls 
of the Temple, and seeming to shake the very 
foundations of the city. 

Instantly the housetops all over the city 
were occupied by groups of people. Jacob 
came out from a little chamber on the roof, 
and Ednah and the whole household, family 
and servants, joined those already there. 
Thousands of worshipers, with their faces 
toward the Temple, awaited the second peal 
of the trumpets, the signal for kneeling and 
joining in a morning hymn of praise. 

As the murmur of the voices rose and 
swelled into a mighty anthem, a pillar of 
black smoke ascended from the midst of 
the Temple, and beyond it a blue, misty 
wreath arose and wove itself, like a silver 
cord, in and out the black mass. This was 
the smoke of the incense. The smoke of the 
burnt offering spread out over the court like 
a canopy, while fresh volumes of it mounted 
higher and higher and dissolved into the 


176 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

heaven, now clear and blue with the new light 
of day. And the prayers of the people 
mingled with the incense and arose to the 
gates of the morning, which the Jews believed 
opened into heaven, while the sun in his 
majesty shone forth from the east even unto 
the west, and it was day. 

*'Tell me. Rabbi,’’ said Ednah when the 
devotions were ended, ‘‘why must the pretty 
doves and the little lambs suffer for me?” 

Jacob frowned. ‘‘Peace, sister; to learn 
and not to question is our duty. That it is 
to be done is sufficient to know. Do not 
you begin to pry into God’s mysteries, after 
the manner of Jesus when a lad.” 

Rabbi Nathan looked attentively into 
Jacob’s face for an instant, and then drew 
Ednah to his side, kindly. 

‘‘It is a sign,” he said. ‘‘The burnt 
offering is the symbol of our sins brought 
before God, that he may take them away. 
They are black and thick and heavy, and 
only the great Jehovah, the Almighty, can 


THE PASSOVER 


177 

make them small as the dust of the earth, 
and disperse them. 

'‘All that is pure and innocent in us turns 
to God, and is purified by fire; the evil is 
like the chaff which the wind driveth away. 
The incense is a sign; it is a sweet savor 
acceptable unto God; it is the adoration 
and prayers of his people, the giving of their 
hearts to him. 

"The Roman may plant his eagle on the 
heights, and establish his warriors in the 
fortress; he may set his foot on the necks 
of the people he has conquered. But over 
the Roman God still reigns, and he is mighty 
to help and to save." 

"We have the Temple," said Jacob. "They 
never will dare take that from us, and Hannas 
the high priest is chief at the palace." 

Rabbi Nathan placed his hand on Jacob's 
shoulder. 

"There is a rumor that the new procurator 
will take the office from Hannas and give 
it to Ishmael." 


178 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

Jacob started up. '‘They will not suffer 
it! Rabbi Nathan, the Jews never will 
suffer it!” His face flushed darkly, and his 
body trembled so that the Rabbi marveled. 
"Only a lad, but full of Are,” he mused. 
"He will be ready when the hour arrives; but 
mine is the task to teach him prudence. 
Yes, prudence is the first lesson I must teach 
him.” 

Straightway the good Rabbi began to talk 
in a low, serious voice to Jacob, and Ednah 
and Julia wandered about the roof garden, 
looking with great interest at the plants and 
vines and the little summerhouses or cham- 
bers built on the roof. They even ventured 
to lean over the railing and look down into 
the street that now began to resound with 
the footsteps of travelers on their way to the 
Temple or to the marketplace at the gate. 

Athaliah, seeing them so pleased with the 
garden, said, "We almost live up here in 
the summer. We will breakfast here this 
morning.” 


THE PASSOVER 


179 

That was very fine, Julia thought, to sit 
at meat in a lovely garden up in the air. 

It being broad daylight now, they could 
see the gardens and domes and chambers on 
the roofs of many other houses, and here and 
there giant palms and other trees towering 
above the roofs. And all about the city 
was the great wall, and beyond the wall the 
circle of mountains. 

‘As the mountains are round about 
Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his 
people,* ** murmured Ednah. Then, as she 
looked toward the fortress and David*s tower, 
and thought that they were Roman strong- 
holds, she added, “ ‘The Lord is my rock, and 
my fortress, and my . . . high tower; whom 
shall I fear? * ’* 

This being the thirteenth day of the month, 
which month is Abib, it was the preparation 
for the Passover. It was a very busy day. 
As Julia followed her aunt about the house, 
who was very careful to see that all was 
properly done, she thought of the first 


i8o JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

Passover in that long-ago time when the 
Jews were slaves in Egypt. 

At sunset all the house, every dish and 
utensil in it, had been purified, and Rabbi 
Nathan repeated the purification prayer, and 
then silently went over the house to see if 
any leaven remained, and a little later, be- 
tween sunset and star-time, he brought the 
water for the making of the unleavened bread. 
It was not lawful for any but the head of the 
household to bring this water. After the 
bread was baked, and a loaf set aside for the 
Temple, the preparations were completed, 
until morning. Then everything fermented 
was carried out of the house; all the prayers 
had been said; all was in readiness for the 
Passover. 

Many times had Julia witnessed these 
preparations in her home at Nazareth, and 
they had not much impressed her; but it 
was a very different thing here in her uncle's 
house, with the walls of Jerusalem about her 
and the Temple before her eyes. 


THE PASSOVER 


i8i 


In the afternoon the women gathered on 
the housetop to watch the endless procession 
winding through the streets on its way to the 
Temple with the lambs for the offering. 
Jacob went with Rabbi Nathan to the Tem- 
ple, being now a Son of the Law, free to go 
where he willed. 

The din at the gates bewildered Jacob. 
'‘Thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy 
gates Praise.” 

But what was this? Dove sellers, dealers 
of all sorts of wares that could by any possi- 
bility be used at the Passover, and money 
changers, all clamored about the gates and 
even in the outer court, eager for a good 
day’s patronage. Rabbi Nathan had passed 
in and was busy about his duties. Something 
of the pride in Jacob’s heart died as he looked 
and listened. He wondered greatly how 
Jews could permit such sacrilege. 

But once inside, Jacob forgot his mortifi- 
cation in beholding the splendor of the Tem- 
ple. The magnificence of the inner gates 


i 82 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


and the walls, the elaborate carvings and rich 
tapestries, the gleam of marble and gold 
all about, dazzled him; it was more than his 
grandest imaginations. 

At sunset the Temple became the scene 
of the greatest confusion; the lambs for the 
burnt offering were sacrificed, and it must all 
be done after sunset and before the stars 
came out. The scene was indescribable. 
Jacob and Rabbi Nathan made their way 
out, as soon as they received their portion 
of their Passover lamb, and slowly threaded 
the great mass of people, as eager to depart 
as they had been to come, for the lamb must 
be roasted and eaten before twelve o’clock 
that night. 

The air was heavy with the odor of burning 
wood and roasting flesh; thousands of fires 
flared up in the darkness; from housetops, 
from courts of dwellings, from street comers 
and market places, anywhere and everywhere 
were the little stone ovens piled or set up, 
and the Passover lamb made ready. 


THE PASSOVER 183 

Rabbi Nathan had invited some of his 
kinspeople to share his Passover lamb, and 
Julia was quite awed at sight of the com- 
pany that arranged itself on the couches 
about the space where the table was to be set 
for the feast. 

When they were assembled the table was 
brought, and the unleavened bread, bitter 
herbs, and a dish of mixed fruits and vinegar 
were placed on it, and partaken of with 
prayer and much ceremony. Then came the 
proud moment for Jacob. The son of the 
house, or the youngest boy present, was 
required to tell the meaning of the feast. 
The questions were framed by rule, and the 
answers also; and the whole story of the 
Israelites’ flight from Egypt was told in 
this way. 

Julia marveled greatly, and all through the 
chanting that followed kept her eyes fixed 
upon Jacob; surely he was wise enough now 
to be a Rabbi. 

As for Jacob, all this was after his own 


i 84 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

heart. Here in Jerusalem he found what he 
missed and longed for at Nazareth. 

The chanting of the hymns was like the 
voices of the hosts of heaven, and the thought 
of all Jerusalem raising its voice to the great 
Jehovah was sublime. 

At midnight Rabbi Nathan and Jacob 
returned to the Temple, where a multitude 
of people were pouring in, attired in gay 
holiday dress and bearing thank offerings. 

Jacob spent the rest of the night in the 
Temple that he might witness the entire 
Temple service. As he went out at the Gate 
Beautiful in the early morning, he chanted 
under his breath, ‘The glory has not yet 
departed from Jerusalem.' " 

And yet — and yet, there was much he 
disapproved. All this must be changed, 
should be changed, when he became a Rabbi. 
Rabbi Nathan was too easy. They were 
all too easy; they had fallen into ruts. Also, 
some of the younger priests were irreverent. 
Jacob was greatly shocked at this. He had 


THE PASSOVER 185 

heard two jesting, and others estimating 
the profits from the sale of the doves in the 
inner courts. Later, when he learned that the 
priests owned many of the doves, though it 
was not openly known, he began to under- 
stand something of the meaning of the traffic 
at the Temple gates. 

^‘All this shall be changed when I am a 
Rabbi,'’ muttered Jacob. “What is to save 
Jerusalem if the Law is broken?" 



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Part III 
THE MASTER 
“ Never man spake like this man.” 



CHAPTER XIV 

BY JORDAN’S BANKS 

J ACOB stood in the tower on the roof 
garden, looking down at the gilded 
domes, the frowning tower of David, and 
the Temple. 

‘‘The glory is not yet departed from Jeru- 
salem,” he repeated again and again, but the 
blast of trumpets from the Temple was 
followed by a reveille from the Roman garri- 
son, Antonia, and set Jacob’s blood tingling 
in his veins. How long was this to be? “O 
Messiah, come quickly,” he prayed. 

The morning sun flooded the city with 
light; the Temple became a vision of gold; 
flocks of pigeons bathed their white wings 
in the glorious light; the farmyard in the 
court below became noisy with voices and 
flutterings; footsteps began to echo in the 
streets; bazaars were thrown open. It was 


190 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

day again. Still Jacob stood looking out 
from the tower chamber. 

Julia’s laugh aroused him; he was in no 
mood for her chatter, and he made his escape 
into the street. The bazaars were already 
filled with people — laborers plying their 
trades in their shops, too busy to heed 
the passers-by: potters, shoemakers, women 
pounding flax and grinding corn; grocers, 
jewelers, silk merchants, fruiterers, and grain 
dealers displaying their wares to catch the 
eyes of the passer-by. 

Jacob stopped at a fruiterer’s and bought 
some fig cakes and olives, and stood at one 
side eating them, watching the while the end- 
less throng of travelers. There were many 
priests with their great turbans and rolls of 
the Law; Pharisees with their phylacteries 
and fringes, muttering prayers at the street 
comers; Essenes in white, and a sprinkling 
of Roman officials in gay uniforms. 

Leaving this busy scene, Jacob crossed the 
little valley that separated the upper and 


BY JORDAN’S BANKS 


191 


lower city, and keeping on by the dwellings 
of the gold-beaters and priests, ascended 
Mount Zion where were the palaces and the 
three famous castles built by Herod the Great. 
The castles were of white marble, surmounted 
by battlements and turrets, and towered 
high above the massive city walls. So finely 
were the blocks of marble joined that the 
fortresses looked like monuments cut out of 
solid rock. 

In the shadow of these white palaces rose 
Herod’s splendid palace, with its great wall 
and towers, its fountains, groves and gardens, 
artificial pools and rivers, and shady walks 
all about, which were free to the public. 

The Jews deigned not to frequent this 
palace ground, for everywhere were statues, 
and in the eyes of a Jew all statues were idols. 

A heathen palace in Jerusalem was bad 
enough, but a theater and amphitheater 
were beyond endurance. 

Jacob’s feelings were not lessened by all 
this. Every way he turned, the stamp of 


192 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

the Roman was set. He stood in the shadow 
of the palace wall and muttered curses. 

Softly, softly,'* said a voice in his ear, 
and Rabbi Nathan stood before him. He had 
been uneasy about the lad and had followed 
him. ''This is the same Herod that rebuilt 
the Temple and enriched it." 

"Yes, to keep us quiet that he might enjoy 
his heathen pleasures unmolested. His touch 
has left a curse on the Temple. It is not 
the Temple of our fathers," said Jacob, 
bitterly. 

"Who has been poisoning thy mind?" 
asked the Rabbi. 

"Who? Mine own eyes have beheld the 
blasting sight and the desecration of Jeru- 
salem. When the Temple — yea, and the 
priests of the Temple — are defiled, the judg- 
ment day cannot be far away." 

"Count your words," said the Rabbi 
severely. 

"I have heard with mine own ears the 
jesting of the priests over their duties; I have 


BY JORDAN’S BANKS 


193 


also seen a Pharisee cheating his neighbor. 
The less heart, the more observance do I find. 
They seem to be forgetting that the outward 
show is but the perfecting of the life itself.” 

”Much I marvel at thee, and thee a lad,” 
said the Rabbi, looking fixedly at Jacob. 

^'Because the rottenness at the heart of 
Jerusalem has spread to the rind, where all 
eyes may see it, you marvel at my knowledge,” 
answered Jacob. 

”So much bitterness in the heart of a lad!” 
mused the Rabbi. ” Surely some one has 
been talking with him. Fire has been set 
to the flax, and the smoke of it threatens to 
burst into flame. There are many Zealots 
in Jerusalem. Jacob has been about much. 
I must look after him more closely. It is 
well I followed him this morning.” 

As they descended Mount Zion they met 
a party of pilgrims who had just come into 
the city, and they were talking excitedly of 
John, who baptized at the Jordan, calling 
men to repent of their sins. 


194 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


‘‘We will go down to the Jordan and see 
this John the Baptist,’' said Rabbi Nathan. 

The following morning they set out, with 
others, for the Jordan. People were coming 
from all directions, and at the gate was a 
great gathering. Many were mounted on 
camels, donkeys, or horses; men, women, 
and children were afoot, with their baskets 
of food and their pilgrim’s staffs. There 
were priests. Rabbis, Pharisees, and Sadducees 
among them. 

The faces of the common people were 
eager. Those of the Rabbis were thoughtful, 
of the priests and the Pharisees and Sad- 
ducees, crafty; they were going to see whether 
this John was sowing sedition among the 
Jews. They liked not to have the people 
running after this stranger. 

They were having a lively discussion about 
John of the wilderness. Some believed him 
to be one of the prophets risen from the dead, 
but more thought him a deceiver; some said 
he must be a madman. 


BY JORDAN’S BANKS 


195 


As they took their way across the valley 
they were joined by large companies of 
travelers, many of whom declared their 
belief that John was a prophet sent by 
God. 

The night was spent in Jericho, and Jacob 
wondered if the enemies of the Jews would 
fall as had the walls of this city when Joshua 
and the people of Israel marched around it. 
There were no traces of its destruction now, 
however; it was again in the hands of the 
enemy. 

In the morning the great army of people 
took their way across the plain toward the 
Jordan. They soon came to the river, and 
following its banks southward toward the 
desert, beheld the great multitude gathered 
to listen to the prophet. 

They reached the place, and made their 
way as best they could toward the elevation 
where the speaker stood. At the first sight 
of the man, Jacob’s heart stood still. This 
was no deceiver. The holy enthusiasm that 


196 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

glowed in the man's face and rang in his voice 
proclaimed his message “sent of God." 

“ 'Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the 
ends of the earth!' Our Redeemer, the Lord 
of Hosts is his name, the Holy One of 
Israel." 

Jacob listened, thrilled as he never had 
been even when listening to the wisest of the 
masters. 

There was great emotion in the vast 
throng, and hundreds crowded about the 
shore to be baptized. 

“Art thou Elias?" asked Jacob. 

“ I am the voice of one crying in the wilder- 
ness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord," was 
the answer. 

Upon reaching the shore and seeing the 
long fringes of the Pharisees and the rich 
robes of the Sadducees, he cried out to them, 
“O generation of vipers, who hath warned 
you to flee from the wrath to come?" 

And then, as if to warn them if they came 
at all to come with a sincere heart, he added. 


BY JORDAN’S BANKS 197 

‘‘Bring forth therefore fruits meet for re- 
pentance.” 

The Pharisees and Sadducees, the judges 
and lawyers, the Rabbis and scribes present, 
drew back and looked with dark faces upon 
the bold prophet. They had gathered in 
little groups by themselves, and had been 
listening critically to the prophet’s eloquent 
exhortations. 

Jacob’s blood was on fire in a moment. 
Should this wild man of the desert be suffered 
to insult the very elect, and before all this 
people? 

He pushed his way through the crowd, 
the people quickly making room for him at 
sight of his threatening face. 

Jacob suddenly halted and stood as if trans- 
fixed ; Rabbi Nathan was about to be baptized. 

“I indeed baptize you with water unto 
repentance: but he that cometh after me is 
mightier than I, whose shoes I am not 
worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with 
the Holy Ghost.” 


198 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


Hundreds of eager people crowded to the 
shore to be baptized, while the self-righteous 
Pharisees and Sadducees, the chief priests 
and rulers, with the masters, turned their 
backs upon John and the Jordan, and with 
dark looks made their way back to their 
homes. 

Jacob was among them. He would listen 
no longer to a man who heaped such indignity 
upon the flower of Judea. Was this what it 
was to come to? All those years of careful 
keeping of the Law, all the years of study, 
to be called at last one of a generation of 
vipers? Though the man had the face of an 
angel, and spoke with a tongue of fire, he 
would not believe him. 

No one dared ask Rabbi Nathan any ques- 
tion when he returned. Jacob observed him 
closely, for he had the greatest reverence 
for his good and wise uncle, but excepting 
that he was more absorbed in thought, and 
more silent then usual, he saw no change in 
him. 


BY JORDAN’S BANKS 199 

At last he ventured to ask, “What thinkest 
thou of this John?” 

“ He is the prophet of whom the old prophets 
prophesied. He is the herald of the Messiah. ’ ’ 

“But the Messiah is to come to the Jews, 
and this man condemns the Jews.” 

“Even so; the Messiah is to come to the 
Jews, but the ax is to be laid at the root of 
the trees, and every tree that bringeth not 
forth good fruit is to be hewn down and cast 
into the fire. Both Jew and Gentile are called 
to repentance.” 

“The Messiah cometh to show honor to 
the Jew in the eyes of the world, not to humble 
him. This John boldly accuses us, and makes 
us despised of the people. The Romans, 
who have laughed at our faith in the promised 
Messiah, will mock at us now.” 

“There is no help but in repentance,” 
answered Rabbi Nathan. “This John cries 
out to all alike, and he will not cease while 
any unrepentant remain aloof. Who will 
say there is no sin among us?” 


200 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


Jacob turned away. If Judah was not 
to be restored to her former glory until her 
people repented and purified their lives, alas 
for Jerusalem! Who could move the proud 
hearts of the Jews? 

If Rabbi Nathan needed repentance, who 
did not? If the good Rabbi found sin in his 
heart, how much more sin must there be in 
his, Jacob’s, heart! 

It was the first time Jacob had ever thought 
of himself as a sinner. It was a very painful 
transition from thinking himself one of the 
most righteous of Pharisees, to think of him- 
self as a sinner. He had learned of a good 
many wrong things that others indulged in. 
The priests in the Temple did not perform 
their tasks with due reverence, and the Temple 
was more a place of traffic than a place of 
worship; the masters, he knew, invented 
rules to evade the Law, and made the word 
of God of no effect. Many of the Pharisees, 
he also knew, made an outward show of a good 
life, but their hidden life was far from upright. 


BY JORDAN’S BANKS 


201 


The rich Sadducees were given to worldly 
pleasures, and in the marketplaces false 
weight was imposed; the poor were oppressed 
by the rich; the orphans and widows were 
not protected. 

How greatly, then, was the Messiah’s 
coming delayed, if these must first repent and 
put away their evil doings! 

But he, Jacob, had not been guilty of any 
of these things, — and neither had Rabbi 
Nathan. What had they to repent of? 

Upon his return he devoted much time to 
the study of the prophets, and one day Rabbi 
Nathan found him with a scroll upon his 
knees, staring at it in a strange, dazed way. 

At sight of his uncle he sprang up. 

Listen!” he cried, and following the lines 
with his finger he read: 

*To what purpose is the multitude of 
your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord. I 
am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and 
the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in 
the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of 


202 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


he-goats. . . . Bring no more vain oblationjs; 
incense is an abomination tmto me. ... I 
am weary to bear them. And when ye 
spread forth your hands, I will hide mine 
eyes from you: yea, when ye make many 
prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full 
of blood. Wash you, make you clean. . . . 
Cease to do evil; learn to do well ! ' ” 

Jacob looked up, and Rabbi Nathan never 
forgot the look of terrified bewilderment in 
his eyes. ''What does it mean?” he asked 
in a voice that trembled with emotion. 

Rabbi Nathan spread his hand over the 
parchment. "God Almighty knoweth,” he 
said. " It is plain that the old order changeth, 
and a new cometh, but the manner of it is 
not shown.” 

"The whole Temple service is condemned,” 
said Jacob. "The entire plan of salvation 
is come to naught.” He could scarcely col- 
lect his thoughts; his world was chaos. In 
his glorious dream of the Messiah, the Temple 
service was to be perfected and the heathen 


BY JORDAN’S BANKS 


203 


tyrants driven from Jerusalem, and all their 
hateful works rased to the ground. And 
now — 

'‘What shall we do?” asked Jacob. 

"Be faithful until the hour arrives. The 
days of the prophecy are fulfilled; the time 
is ripe.” 

Jacob’s people had returned to Nazareth. 
It was decided that he should remain in 
Jerusalem. 

That same day Jacob wrote to his mother, 
Lois: " I have learned many wonderful things 
respecting the coming of the Messiah. The 
prophets say not only that he is to be a king 
and the Redeemer of Israel, and rule all 
nations, but they also say that he is to be a 
man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; 
that he is to be humble and lowly and rejected 
of men. It is a great mystery, but I believe 
that the Christ is coming in some disguise; 
that he will not be recognized; that he will, 
after persecutions, reveal himself and take 


204 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

unto him his kingdom. I no more look for 
a royal advent. The Messiah will not come 
to us clothed in purple and fine linen. 

'*And to-day have I chanced upon the 
greatest wonder of all; the prophets say that 
the Temple sacrifices are an abomination to 
God, and are not accepted. I cannot under- 
stand it; it is all a mystery. The hope of 
my life is broken. I see nothing but chaos 
before me. I look for — I know not what. 

'‘As for this John all the world has gone 
after, he is a bold fanatic. He has no more 
respect for our honored Jews than for the 
vilest Gentile. He has openly condemned us. 
I would not hear him, but Uncle Nathan was 
baptized, confessing himself a sinner. That, 
too, I cannot understand, for he is the most 
perfect man I have ever known. I believe 
he thinks John the Baptist is a true prophet 
of the Messiah. But the true prophet will 
aid, and not cry down, the Jews.'' 


CHAPTER XV 


THE FRIEND OF MY YOUTH 

J ACOB had been sent to Capernaum by 
his uncle, Rabbi Nathan, with a message 
for the priests at the synagogue. He made 
his home with his Uncle Gershom, who dwelt 
not far from the synagogue. 

Jacob disliked Capernaum. For one thing, 
the father of Lucas, his enemy, had moved 
to this place. For another thing, the people 
were rude and boisterous, and worshiped 
Mammon with all their hearts. To get 
money seemed the end and aim of their 
existence, and they had precious little respect 
to waste on long-robed Rabbis with broad 
phylacteries and elaborate fringes — much 
less on a pretentious youth like Jacob. 

Now it was more unpleasant than usual; 
all the city was in commotion over the fame 
of John the Baptist. One evening, when the 
people were out looking for the new moon, 

14 


205 


206 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


each one being eager first to discover it, 
Dnmah and Ethan, sons of Gershom several 
years younger than Jacob, came home in 
great haste. 

‘‘The Messiah has come!*’ they cried in 
the same breath. ''The Messiah has come! 
He has been baptized of John at the Jordan.” 

Jacob looked incredulous. "What idle 
report is this?” he said. 

"Nay; but the men saw it with their own 
eyes. John baptized him, and proclaimed 
him as the Messiah whom he foretold,” said 
Dumah. 

"Yes, and there was a sign from heaven. 
John had told them what the sign was to 
be, and the sign came.” 

"And what was the sign?” asked Gershom. 

"We do not know; the men could not tell. 
They were far off, for the multitude, but 
there were strange soimds; and the people 
were afraid.” 

"What think you. Cousin Jacob?” asked 
Ethan. The two lads thought that a youth 


THE FRIEND OF MY YOUTH 207 

who wore long robes, dwelt at Jerusalem, and 
studied in the colleges must be very wise. 

“I believe this John to be an enthusiast,” 
said Jacob. ''He is carried away by his own 
zeal, and fancies himself a prophet.” 

"Yea, and he carries all the people with 
him,” said Gershom. 

"For that, the priests and Rabbis are 
jealous of him, and they are seeking for some- 
what to accuse him of, that he may be arrested 
and silenced.” 

"Aha! the people are diverted from the 
Temple, and the treasuries are low,” said 
Gershom. 

"Besides that, he speaks evil of them, 
and upbraids them before the people as 
sinners.” 

"But for all that, this bold man John may 
be a true prophet, and this man he has bap- 
tized, the Messiah,” said Gershom. 

"When the Messiah cometh, he will come 
to the Jews, and his coming will be attended 
by miracles and signs. When this Messiah 


208 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


of John’s performs a miracle, I will believe,” 
was Jacob’s reply. 

Just then there was a great shout; the 
new moon had appeared. Swift feet hastened 
to the synagogue, and the people who stood 
at the doors of their homes repeated, with 
bowed heads, the prayer of the new moon: 

Blessed be the Lord our God! who, 
through thy Word didst create the heavens, 
and their whole host, by the breath of thy 
mouth. He appointed them a law and a 
time that they should not go back from their 
places. Joyfully and gladly they fulfill the 
will of their Creator, whose working and whose 
works are truth. He spoke to the moon and 
commanded her that she should renew herself 
in glory and splendor, for those whom he 
has carried from their mother’s breast, for 
they, too, will be one day renewed, like her, 
and glorify their Creator after the honor of 
his kingdom. Blessed be thou. Lord, who 
renewest the moons.” 

Before this prayer was finished, the trumpet 


THE FRIEND OF MY YOUTH 209 

of the new moon sounded from the synagogue. 
Each household now set about preparing the 
feast for the morrow, for it would be a holiday, 
and no work would be done. There was 
singing and rejoicing, and special services 
at the synagogue, and guests invited to the 
homes of the people; also games for the 
young people in the public square. 

It was on the evening of the feast of the 
new moon that the family gathered in the 
porch, all weary with the day’s merrymaking, 
and the lads Dumah and Ethan begged 
Jacob for a story. 

will tell you the story Uncle Nathan 
used to tell to us at Nazareth,” said Jacob. 
“It is the story of the Moon. 

“The Eternal sent forth his creating voice, 
saying, 'Let two lights shine in the firma- 
ment, as kings of the earth and dividers of 
the revolving year.’ 

“He spake, and it was done. The Sun 
rose as the first light. A crown of all hues 
encircled his head; the earth rejoiced, the 


210 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


plants sent up their odors to him, and the 
flowers put on their best array. 

'‘The other light looked on with envy, as 
it saw it could not outvie the Glorious One 
in splendor. ‘What need is there,’ it asked, 
murmuring to itself, ‘of two kings on one 
throne? ’ 

“Forthwith its brightness faded, chased 
away by its inward chagrin. It flew from 
it high through the air, and became the Host 
of Stars. 

“ The Moon stood pale as the dead, ashamed 
before all the heavenly ones, and wept, 
‘Have pity on me. Father of all creatures, 
have pity!’ 

“Then the angel of God stood before the 
Sad One, and told her the decree of the High- 
est. ‘Because thou hast envied the light of 
the Sun, imhappy one, henceforth thou wilt 
shine only by his light, and when yonder 
earth comes between thee and him, thou wilt 
stand darkened, in part, or entirely as now. 
Yet, Child of Error, weep not. The Merciful 


THE FRIEND OF MY YOUTH 21 1 


One has forgiven thy sin, and turned it to 
good for thee. Go,’’ said he. ''Speak 
comfortingly to the Sorrowful One; she will 
at least be a queen in her brightness. The 
tears of her sorrow will be a balm to quicken 
all living things, and renew the strength 
which the beams of the Stm have made 
faint.’ 

"The Moon went away comforted, and 
lo, there streamed round her that brightness 
in which she still shines: she set forth on that 
peaceful path in which she still moves, as 
Queen of the Night, and leader of the stars. 
Lamenting her sin, and pitying the tears of 
men, she seeks whom she may revive, and 
looks for any she can cheer.’’ 

The story was done; the new moon dipped 
below the horizon; the melody of the evening 
hymn rose like sweet incense on the quiet 
evening air. 

Jacob went from Capernaum to Nazareth 
to visit his people. One morning he went 
to the north part of the town to see the new 


212 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


cistern that was building. It was being 
hollowed out of the solid rock, and a pile of 
broken rocks he found a convenient resting 
place while he watched the work. 

While he sat there, he saw a youth mount- 
ing the steep way that led to the cistern. 
As he drew near, he recognized Lucas the 
publican. Jacob had a sudden suspicion that 
Lucas had purposely followed him from 
Capernaum. Hardly had the thought taken 
form in his mind, when Lucas made a spring 
at him and, throwing his arms about him, 
thus making him helpless, dragged him — 
Jacob thought, toward the cistern. It was 
all in an instant, the act and the thought, 
then there was a crash and a sound as of 
heavy stones falling. 

‘'You escaped by the skin of your teeth,” 
said Lucas, releasing Jacob, who, instead of 
finding himself crashing down into the cis- 
tern, stood on the brink of it, and the pile of 
stones he had been leaning against was scat- 
tered all about. 





Lucas made a spring at him 


Page 212 





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THE FRIEND OF MY YOUTH 213 

Jacob was at a loss for words. The pub- 
lican hated him, and he had saved his life. 
'‘What meanest thou?” he asked. 

“Thou art his friend,” said Lucas, shortly; 
“he loves thee,” and turning about, he saun- 
tered away to the opposite side of the cistern 
and began conversing with the men at work 
there; and no one observing him would 
have seen any sign of the fierce battle that 
had raged in his heart while he stood before 
his most hated enemy. 

Jacob was so amazed by this unheard-of 
action that he stood immovable, looking 
after the publican. Would he have saved the 
publican if he had stood in his place, for 
Jesus’s sake? 

Vividly before his mind’s eye came the 
day of the journey from Nazareth to Jeru- 
salem, and the scene during the tempest, and 
the face of Jesus as he spoke to one and then 
the other of the furious lads. Had he ever 
thought before what those words meant? 
Lucas had shown him. He then fought his 


214 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


battle. His long-nurtured hope of some day 
doing his enemy an injury must be given up, 
because he loved this vile publican. However 
preposterous the idea, he said it. Jacob had 
heard him. 

When Jacob went away from the cistern 
he left there the great black thought he had 
carried in his heart so long, that evil spirit, 
revenge. To him it seemed a tremendous 
sacrifice. It was the first real sacrifice he 
had made for his friend’s sake — the first real 
sacrifice of his life. 

On his way to the house of Abda he passed 
the threshing floor of Phalec, the grain dealer, 
who had the largest threshing floor in Naza- 
reth. The earth was beaten as hard and 
smooth as stone, and his oxen were the largest 
and strongest that could be found. They 
were treading out the corn as Jacob went by, 
and he stopped to watch them. 

Phalcc himself had come down to see the 
threshing. He was a shrewd man, and 
looked well after his interests. He saluted 


THE FRIEND OF MY YOUTH 215 

Jacob, and began making observations about 
the harvest. While they stood conversing, 
two women came that way, walking in haste 
and talking fast and earnestly. They were 
Phalec’s wife and sister. 

'‘We have come to tell thee a wonderful 
thing,” said one of the women. “There 
has been a miracle!” 

She stopped to take breath, and the other 
woman spoke. “In Cana of Galilee. Some 
strangers came from the marriage, and they 
told it at the gate. We had been to the 
pool for water, and we heard it.” 

“The water was turned to wine,” said the 
first woman. “The wine gave out, and the 
water in the jars was turned to wine.” 

“A foolish imagination,” said Phalec. 

“It is true,” said the woman; “the men 
saw the water poured into the jars, and it 
came out wine. He that did the miracle 
said to them, ‘ Fill the waterpots with water.' ” 

“And who is this magician?” asked Jacob. 

“That we do not know. The men could 


2i6 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


not tell. They asked one another, but no 
one knew, and they came away in haste, but 
some say he is the Messiah, the same whom 
John baptized at the Jordan."' 

“It is all a fabrication,” said Jacob, turn- 
ing away. 

The women looked distressed. “It was 
truly a miracle. They saw it with their 
own eyes,” they repeated. 

“Be at peace,” said Phalec. “If it be the 
Messiah we shall hear more of this; and if 
it is not, it is no matter.” 

Not many days after this report was spread 
about — Jacob was again at Capernaum — 
Dumah and Ethan came home in great haste, 
crying out that the Messiah was at the 
synagogue. 

“He went by the marketplace,” said Ethan, 
“and the men who were at the marriage in 
Cana saw him pass by. All the city is running 
to the synagogue.” 

Upon this, Ethan and Dumah departed 
with the same speed they had arrived, and 


THE FRIEND OF MY YOUTH 217 

Jacob and Gershom and his wife followed 
the lads. 

Jacob was troubled in his mind. Was it 
at all likely that the Messiah would be 
traveling about the Jordan and Capernaum? 
He did not believe it, yet he was troubled 
in his mind. 

At the synagogue was a great concourse 
of eager, curious, excited people. The little 
party almost despaired of getting near enough 
to hear or see. Jacob worked his way slowly, 
wondering much what manner of man this 
would be. He at last made out the figure 
standing on the platform. It was clothed 
in a blue robe. He drew nearer; the figure 
on the platform raised its hand, and a great 
silence fell upon the multitude. 

The voice of the speaker was not bold and 
challenging like John’s, but clear and low 
and earnest, and of a marvelous tenderness. 
Jacob started when the tones of that voice 
came to him over the heads of the people. 
He contrived to get a little nearer, so that 


2i8 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

he could see the face. His heart seemed to 
stop its beating. He looked upon Jesus of 
Nazareth! 

Next day Jacob bade good-by to, his Uncle 
Gershom’s family and went to Nazareth. He 
had intended to return to Jerusalem from 
Capernaum, but now he must go back to 
Phineas and Ednah and tell them what had 
come to pass. 

Ednah was in the garden beyond the house, 
gathering grapes and pomegranates. She 
ran out quickly with outstretched arms and 
a face so radiant that Jacob thought she had 
never looked so beautiful. 

''Believest thou?’' she cried eagerly. 

''Thou hast heard, then; and thou, I per- 
ceive, believest,” said Jacob, saluting her in 
his kindest manner, for he dearly loved this 
devoted sister Ednah. 

"Aye, I believe. I always knew, oh, I 
always knew he was more than an ordinary 
lad! There was none other like him." 

"You forget; the Messiah was to be born 


THE FRIEND OF MY YOUTH 219 

in Bethlehem, and of the house and lineage 
of David. He was to be sent of God.’* 

“And was not Jesus born in Bethlehem, 
and is he not of the house and lineage of 
David? And since the baptism at the Jor- 
dan, Uncle Nathan has been to Bethlehem 
and looked in the Book of the Genealogy 
and found that the child Jesus was he 
whom the shepherds and the wise men 
sought and worshiped.” 

Jacob was overcome. “My neighbor and 
my friend,” he said half to himself. “My 
neighbor and my friend all the years of my 
life, — and I never knew.” Then, thinking 
of the ordinary life Jesus had lived, exactly 
like himself and the others, he muttered, 
“How can it be?” And yet — and yet there 
had been a wondrous difference between the 
lives of the lads and youths of Nazareth, and 
that of Jesus. The more he thought, the 
more bewildered he became. He hastened 
to Jerusalem to talk it over with Rabbi 
Nathan. 


220 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

Jacob returned to his studies, but he could 
not arouse the old enthusiasm. His mind 
continually reverted to the strange experiences 
in Capernaum, and the miracle. He waited 
to hear reports of more miracles from the 
pilgrims from Galilee, but none came. He 
heard from Ednah that the family of Joseph 
had moved to Capernaum, and after that 
that Joseph was dead, and Jesus was a 
teacher. 

Of Jesus’s teaching he could learn little, 
except that he did not teach like the Rabbis, 
and his words were strange. Most of the 
people laughed at him because they knew 
him and his family, and he claimed to be sent 
of God to teach them; to save them from 
their sins, he said. His teaching was in itself 
a miracle to Jacob. How could he teach, 
who had never attended any school but that 
at the synagogue in Nazareth? 

During this time Jacob was called to Naza- 
reth by the death of his brother Phineas. 
While he was there, a letter from his Uncle 


THE FRIEND OF MY YOUTH 221 


Nathan told him that Jesus had come down 
to the Passover and that, entering the Temple 
and seeing the traffic there, he had driven 
out the sellers, saying that they had made 
the house of God a place of merchandise. 
The priests were wrathful, feeling reproached 
before the people, and the people applauded 
this bold action; the Temple ought to have 
been cleansed long ago. To save their repu- 
tation, the priests were making strict rules 
regarding the Temple; but they hated Jesus 
for his interference. 

Jacob was all impatience to return to 
Jerusalem, but was detained for a time. 
While here the brother of Lucas again begged 
the hand of his sister Ednah in marriage, but 
Jacob was even more immovable than Phin- 
eas, and Ednah was too true a Jew maiden 
to defy the law. Lucas muttered terrible 
imprecations, and wished with all his might 
that Jacob was not the friend of Jesus. 

Jacob had feared that he must give up his 
life in Jerusalem, and support his mother 

15 


222 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

and sister, but it was arranged that the three 
uncles should provide for them, while Phin- 
eas's wife and two children went to her people. 

When Jacob finally turned his steps toward 
Jerusalem, Jesus was traveling through Judea, 
teaching and healing, performing many mira- 
cles, and the fame of him spread through all 
the cotmtry. In vain Jacob sought to devote 
himself to his studies; the words of the 
prophets haunted him, the words condemning 
the Temple sacrifices and observances. He 
would seek Jesus and learn from him what a 
Jew should do to be acceptable to God, and 
to prepare for the coming of the King. 

Rabbi Nathan sent him away with his 
blessing. Following from town to town, 
Jacob learned that Jesus had returned to 
Capernaum, and thither he turned his steps. 

All the country was lamenting John the 
Baptist, who had been cast into prison, and 
he feared Jesus would share the same fate. 
He gave thanks that he was not now in Jeru- 
salem. He comforted himself with the 


. THE FRIEND OF MY YOUTH 223 


thought that the Messiah was Immanuel, 
'‘God with us,’' and if Jesus were really the 
Messiah he had all power, and nothing could 
harm him. 


CHAPTER XVI 


FOLLOW ME 

T he blue waters of Galilee sparkled in the 
morning sunlight; the little waves, white 
fringed, ran up the sands, and broke over the 
feet of two sturdy fisher lads who were pushing 
their clumsy boat off the shore. 

As soon as the boat floated, they sprang in 
and began to arrange the fishing tackle, 
glancing up and down the beach as they 
worked. 

It was a picturesque sight they looked upon ; 
groups of fishermen in earnest discussion, 
busy the while in preparing for the day’s 
trip; fishermen and fishermen’s wives and 
daughters mending their nets; tiny boats 
spreading their wings and flitting seaward; 
loaded boats just coming in, floating heavily 
shoreward; dealers waiting to bargain with 
their owners as soon as they should land. 


224 


FOLLOW ME 


225 


Beyond the beach rose the city, its white- 
washed stone dwellings showing through the 
trees, and beyond the city the rounded 
hills, covered with green grasses in spring, 
but now brown and bare. And northward, 
beyond the hills, the twin peaks of Hattin 
stood out clearly against the bright sky. 

The two fisher lads, however, did not look 
beyond the busy scenes on the beach. '‘Ja- 
son,’' cried one, “there are James and John 
still at work on the nets; they will lose the 
morning.” 

“Never fear, Libna,” replied the other; 
“they will go out later and return sooner, 
and take a larger catch than any of us.” 

“It’s all on account of their father. Zebedee 
stitches good luck into the nets,” said Libna. 

“He mends well, and they are good fisher- 
men,” was the answer. “Here we go!” 

Jason pulled the anchor into the boat, and 
the clumsy craft began to creep over the 
rippled surface of the lake, while the boys 
fitted the oars in the rowlocks. 


226 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


' ‘ Look, Libna ! * * cried J ason. ' ‘ Who comes 
up the beach? He is not a fisherman, nor a 
trader. He is watching Peter and Andrew 
just off the point, fishing. I saw them cast 
their nets as I passed by.’' 

''There’s a great school of fish headed that 
way now,” cried the boy excitedly, forgetting 
the stranger on the beach in his interest in 
the fortunes of his neighbors. 

"Hist! He salutes them,” said Jason, 
with his hand on his brother’s arm. 

Clearly through the morning air came the 
words: 

''Follow me, and I will make you fishers 
of men.” 

The lads looked into each other’s faces 
wonderingly . ' ‘ Fishers of men ! What means 
he?” each questioned. 

"Ah! the fish!” sighed Libna. "See, they 
have left the boat and are coming to 
shore.” 

He meant the men, not the fish, and Jason, 
with a sudden stroke of his oar, sent the boat 


FOLLOW ME 


227 


sliding along shore in the direction of the 
group now walking slowly over the white, 
shell-strewn beach. 

‘'We will float down and see whether he 
takes them to Gennesaret or turns to the 
city (Capernaum)/' he said. 

“He has stopped again. He is talking to 
Zebedee and his sons. See, brother, see!” 
Libna stood up and listened. “He is calling 
them also.” 

They did not hear the words, but they saw 
James and John leave their father and join 
the little group. 

“Who can he be that commands men after 
that manner?” said Jason. 

“I know not, but his voice is kind and his 
countenance is kind. If he commands, it is 
in love.” 

“Let us go to Zebedee’s boat and ask him 
who this strange man is.” 

The boys were soon beside the other boat, 
inquiring about the man the others had 
followed. 


228 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


‘Ht is he whom John baptized at the Jor- 
dan,” was the old man’s answer. 

”What! Not he of whom John said that 
he was the Lamb of God come to save the 
world!” cried Libna, breathlessly. 

'‘The very same,” replied the old man, and 
his face glowed. 

"But I have heard the Messiah was to be 
sent to the Jews. How is it he, if it be he, 
calls fishermen?” 

"I know not,” answered Zebedee, and his 
long thorn needle went on weaving in and 
out the meshes of the broken net, silently, 
and the boys returned to their boat, greatly 
wondering. 

They floated idly for a time, watching the 
group that made its way along the beach. 

"He calls no more,” said Jason; "only 
those four. Strange.” 

They watched the group take its way 
toward Capernaum, and then they plied 
their oars busily and sped to their day’s task. 
But Libna was in a dreamy mood and could 


FOLLOW ME 


229 


not put his mind on the fish, because of a 
compassionate face that looked up from the 
water, or down from the sky, or wherever he 
turned his eyes, and of a voice, loving and 
tender, that called, ‘ ‘ Follow me ! Follow me ! ” 

Jason seemed to be in a deep study, but 
abated not a whit of his usual skill in catching 
and landing his fish. 

'‘Thou art idling!’' he broke out, after 
waiting in vain for his brother to wake from 
his trance. 

“What think’st thou, brother?’’ asked 
Libna, wistfully. 

“Think? I think all the fishes this side 
the sea will fatten to-day for another man’s 
net, for all thou wilt hinder,’’ was Jason’s 
answer. 

“ Let us go to the city. He may be speak- 
ing to the people in the marketplace or at 
the synagogue,’’ said Libna. 

“We will go,’’ said Jason, dropping his net 
into the bottom of the boat. “We will 
inquire in the city whither he went.’’ 


230 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

No one could answer their inquiries, and 
to the marketplace they took their way, and 
in the motley throng gathered there, — buyers 
and sellers, and idle on-lookers, — the lads 
dodged about, apparently alive with curiosity 
to see all that was to be seen, but in reality 
listening in all directions if haply they might 
catch a bit of information regarding the 
Master whom they had seen on the beach. 

Libna was intently eying a pile of vege- 
tables; near by was a pilgrim Jew, talking 
with a priest. 

'‘Samaria has accepted him,” the Jew was 
saying. "They .demand no miracles. His 
words have converted them. The day that I 
passed through, a woman came running into 
the city, saying, 'Come, see a man which 
told me all things that ever I did: is not 
this the Christ?' 

"With one accord the whole city followed 
the woman, I with the rest. Upon question- 
ing the woman, she told me, 'The man said 
imto me, "I am Messiah.”' 


FOLLOW ME 


231 


''At Jacob’s Well we found the man, and a 
number of his friends with him. The people 
besought him to tarry with them, and he 
and his friends consented. Much I wished 
that I, too, might tarry and hear the words 
he should speak to them, but I could not.” 

"Think you his claim is true?” asked the 
priest. 

"Verily, he has wisdom more than man’s,” 
was the answer. 

Libna deserted the pile of vegetables, — 
to the great relief of the owner, who had 
been eying the fisher lad as intently as Libna 
had eyed his wares. 

Making his way to Jason as quickly as he 
was able, he found him talking with two men 
of the city. Upon seeing Libna, he took 
him by the arm and led him away. There 
was a new expression in Jason’s face, like one 
newly awakened. Libna looked at^his great, 
rough brother, and wondered what he had 
learned. When they had left the market- 
place and were in the street, Libna repeated 


232 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


the story the Jew had told the priest, and 
while he talked the expression in Jason’s face 
strengthened. 

*^He is surely the Christ,” said Jason, 
solemnly. ”He is the great healer and 
teacher who has been doing such wonders 
in Judea. Never was a man known like 
this man. He heals all manner of diseases, 
and he exhorts the people to repent of their 
sins. But a few days since, on his way to 
this city, he stopped at Cana, and a noble- 
man of this city learned of it, and went to 
him, beseechng him to heal his son whose 
life was despaired of —yea, he was at the point 
of death. And he healed him, the lad being 
here and the man at Cana.” 

They were now on the beach, and two lads 
somewhat younger than they passed them. 
They were dressed in brown and white 
striped tunics, each with a gold-fringed scarf 
thrown over his shoulder. They had san- 
dals on their feet and turbans on their 
heads. 


FOLLOW ME 


233 


They also had haughty faces, and held 
their heads high as they passed, one saying 
something in a low voice to the other, with a 
glance toward Jason and Libna, the other 
laughing a little, and eying them rudely. 

The fisher lads in their scant gray frocks, 
barefooted and bareheaded, flushed angrily 
under their tan, and quickly catching up 
handsful of the shells that whitened the beach, 
cast them with boisterous shouts at the Jew 
boys. 

The latter did not so much as turn their 
heads to see who assaulted them.' 

“I am glad,’' said Jason, '‘that John was 
not afraid to tell the Jews what he thought 
of them. Wasn’t it ‘hypocrites,’ he called 
them? It is a good name; in their syna- 
gogues they preach about the sinfulness of a 
haughty spirit, and say that the God of the 
Jews abhors a proud heart, and they all cry 
‘Amen’; then they put on their sandals and 
go into the streets and despise us just as 
before.” 


234 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


**They say many things, and do none of 
them,*^ said Libna. 

The boys went to their boat, dressed the 
fish, and piled it into baskets. Their atten- 
tion was suddenly called to a disabled boat 
that was being towed in. They would be 
gone but a moment. All the people on the 
beach were hastening in the same direction. 

Two Jew boys sitting in the shadow of an 
old boat overturned on the beach saw the 
fisher lads join the crowd that was fast col- 
lecting to view the wreck. 

'‘Come, Dumah,’' said one, "let us go 
down and upset their fish; it will repay them 
for their spite." 

"A penny for thy wit, Ethan," cried 
Dumah, and rising, they strolled leisurely 
toward the boat containing the fish baskets. 
They looked about them; there was no one 
to see, so they hastily overturned the bas- 
kets, scattering the fish all about. 

"Show your betters a little respect, next 
time!" muttered Dumah. 


FOLLOW ME 


235 


When Jason and Libna returned to their 
boat and saw what havoc had been made of 
their day’s labor, they were greatly astonished. 

‘'What enemy hath done this?” cried 
Libna, in distress. 

“When I learn his name, I will tell it 
thee,” said Jason. He was in a rage, and he 
beat his feet into the sand at every step, as 
he walked about the boat. 

“We must gather them up as best we can,” 
he said, and immediately fell to work. 

They had nearly refilled the baskets when 
Jason paused and looked intently at some- 
thing that stuck to a fish’s fin. He pulled 
it off, looked at it again, and then looked at 
Libna, who had not observed him. He 
hesitated a moment, then put what he had 
found in his frock. 


CHAPTER XVII 


FOLLOWING AFAR OFF 

HE next day being the Sabbath, Jason 



and Libna went to the synagogue, think- 
ing they might hear the Great Rabbi, as this 
wonderful healer and teacher was called. 
Not caring for the tedious service, they 
delayed until it was time for the sermon. 
They were late; the people were pouring 
out of the synagogue with astonished and 
excited faces. “The lad is in his right mind,*' 
said one, “and the evil spirit called him who 
commanded it the ‘Holy One of God'! " 

“Who is it? And what has he done?" 
asked Jason. 

“It is the son of Zebah— he that was 
possessed of the evil spirit. He has been 
healed." 

“He speaks with authority, and not like 
the Rabbis," said another, “who only repeat 


FOLLOWING AFAR OFF 237 

what they have learned from the Law and 
the Talmud/' 

'‘And who is he?" asked Libna. 

“See for thyself. He comes this way with 
his disciples." 

Jason and Libna turned, and with great 
astonishment saw the man who a few months 
before had taught in the city, and been scorned 
and laughed at because he claimed to have a 
divine mission. Now the whole city, having 
heard of his fame in Judea, had turned out 
to hear him. Before, they could not believe 
because he dwelt among them, and they knew 
his people; he had been only a carpenter. 
How could he at once leave his bench and be 
a Rabbi and a prophet? 

The lads hastened home and told their 
mother, who was a poor widow and dwelt 
near the shore with the fisher folk, that Jesus 
of Nazareth was the great Rabbi whose fame 
had so spread abroad, and who had now come 
back to the people who had so despised him. 

The poor woman fell on her knees and 
16 


238 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


prayed God to send the good Rabbi to her 
door to comfort her in her poverty and 
desolation. 

'‘Better than that, mother,” said Libna, 
"we will go into the streets when the sun is 
set and follow the people. Wherever he is, 
there will be sure to be a crowd to see and 
hear him.” 

At sunset they went out, and found people 
from all directions were converging toward 
one point. Old and young, rich and poor, 
high and low, sick people on mattresses or in 
hammocks carried by friends, the halt, the 
maimed, the lame, the dumb, the blind, were 
on their way to Peter’s house, where Jesus 
now made his home. 

"Verily,” said the mother of Libna and 
Jason, "this is the Messiah.” 

"If he comes down on the Jews as John 
did, I am with him,” said Jason, chuckling a 
little to think of the consternation and morti- 
fication of Dumah and Ethan if the Jews 
should be condemned before the multitude. 


FOLLOWING AFAR OFF 239 


''It would cost him dear,” said Libna, and 
then there was silence a moment, for Jesus 
appeared at the door of the house, and the 
next instant the silence was followed by a 
chorus of supplications. 

Jesus stepped out among them, and with a 
word, a touch, a look, one miserable creature 
after another who crept to him or was brought 
to him, went away leaping, shouting, singing, 
or praying. They even pressed about him 
to touch the hem of his garment, and these, 
too, were healed. 

The poor widow fell on her knees, overcome 
by the scene. But she did not attempt to go 
to Jesus, for she had no request to make. 
She was not ill or crippled; she was afflicted 
by death and poverty. 

There was another who did not go to the 
Great Healer, though he did have a request. 
He was not yet ready to make it. It did 
begin to look as if Jesus of Nazareth might 
be the Jews' Messiah, and about to claim 
his kingdom. Jacob, the Jew, wished to be 


240 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

quite sure of this before he became a follower. 
But as he stood among this people and wit- 
nessed the cures, he could hardly restrain 
himself from running to Jesus and falling at 
his feet. 

Jacob’s prudence held him. It was too 
serious a matter to be guided by impulse. 
He would resign his life at the Temple and 
the college, and follow Jesus, if he were certain 
he was on his way to his throne, but otherwise 
the risk was too great, and danger imminent. 
If the Jews refused him, short work would 
be made of Jesus and his followers. 

The next day there was a still greater 
number of people before Peter’s door, but 
Jesus was not there. Knowing his love for 
the hills, Peter and his brother sought him, 
and, finding him, told him of the waiting 
people, and some of the people who had 
followed the disciples besought him to remain 
with them. But he answered them, must 
preach the kingdom of God to other cities 
also: for therefore am I sent.” 


FOLLOWING AFAR OFF 


241 


They did not understand that the healing 
of their souls was more precious than the 
healing of their bodies, but they followed 
him from town to town, as he went about 
Galilee healing and teaching, the same scenes 
everywhere repeated, the multitude always 
increasing. Jacob followed and loitered, wait- 
ing to see what the next step would be. At 
last a leper was cleansed, and the excite- 
ment increased. Though Jesus admonished 
the cleansed man to tell no one of his cure, 
but go to Jerusalem and show himself to the 
priest, the man heeded not, for joy and won- 
der, but told his story all the way through the 
country. 

A man cured of leprosy must go to the 
priest and pass a tedious examination, and 
receive a certificate from the priest to prove 
that he was clean, and this might be done 
only at Jerusalem. 

Jesus desired to work quietly, not to rouse 
the opposition of the Jewish leaders, whom he 
knew full well to be jealous of him because 


242 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

he was not one with them, but preached 
independently, without regard to the Talmud 
or the traditions of the Rabbis. The Masters 
of Israel knew that this Jesus was turning 
the hearts of the people away from them, and 
they watched attentively to accuse him of 
using unlawful authority. 

Excitement ran to such a height that Jesus 
again returned to Capernaum, but he was 
met by a great concourse of people. They 
were all clamoring, not to hear the word of 
God, but to be healed of bodily diseases. 
And with the multitude came the Rabbis, 
from all the country round; they had come 
to look out for their interests. 

Some of the Rabbis were friendly. J esus had 
not upbraided them as John had done, and for 
his wisdom they gave him the title of Rabbi, 
and invited him to their houses, hoping to 
learn the secret of his wisdom and popularity. 

In a great excitement Jason and Libna 
hastened home from Peter’s house, where 
the multitude had followed Jesus. 


FOLLOWING AFAR OFF 243 

''He forgives sins also!'' cried Libna to his 
mother, who was spinning by the door. 
"To-day they let a sick man down through 
the roof at Peter's house, and Jesus said to 
him, 'Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be 
forgiven thee.' " 

Jacob's retiu*ning steps were slow; he was 
troubled and anxious. Jesus should have 
sent the men he healed to the priest, with a 
sin-offering to be presented to God. No 
mortal could forgive sins except the priests, 
and they only in the name of Jehovah. 
What blasphemy was this, for Jesus to forgive 
sins! 

Jacob had seen the dark looks of the scribes 
and lawyers, and ominous shakings of the 
head, and he feared for his friend. Blas- 
phemy was punishable by death by stoning, 
and then the body hung on a tree. 

This would be a turning point in Jesus's 
ministry. From this time he would be per- 
secuted, if he escaped death. It was a terrible 
moment for Jacob; he had hoped great things. 


244 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

But after all, perhaps this daring was 
auspicious. It might be because Jesus knew 
his power and his sure kingdom that he was 
so fearless. 

Suddenly the multitude stood still in the 
street, and Jacob, raising his eyes, saw that 
Jesus had spoken to the taxgatherer, Matthew, 
who was sitting at the receipt of custom, and 
busy at his work. ''Follow me,'* said Jesus 
quietly to the man, and the man, with a 
searching look into Jesus’s face, arose and 
called to his assistants. Jesus passed on, 
and the multitude followed. 

They had not gone far when Matthew 
overtook them and urged Jesus to dine with 
him at his house. Jesus turned about and 
followed the man. The multitude were 
amazed, the scribes and Pharisees muttered 
among themselves, and one asked Jesus, 
“Why do ye eat and drink with publicans 
and sinners?" 

That was the very thought in Jacob’s 
mind. Why, of all men, should Jesus choose 


FOLLOWING AFAR OFF 245 


a publican to be his disciple? And why 
did he do what no Jew would do, eat with 
publicans and sinners? 

Jesus looked at Matthew and his friends 
whom he had invited to the feast, and then 
at the throng of people following, and he 
made answer, ‘'They that be whole need not 
a physician, but they that be sick. I came 
not to call the righteous, but sinners to 
repentance.’' 

The answer pacified Jacob. He knew of 
old the kind heart of Jesus. He remembered 
Lucas, and that Jesus loved him. But the 
more he thought on these things, the more he 
feared for Jesus. The Jews would not tole- 
rate such liberality and impartiality. A pub- 
lican was unclean, and a Jew who associated 
with one was defiled. 

Jacob waited; he was more undecided than 
ever; the prospect was very uncertain. He 
waited to see what steps the Pharisees would 
take against Jesus. Nothing was done; the 
people were too enthusiastic over his cures — 


246 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


they would rise like one man if harm threat- 
ened the Great Healer. 

So Jacob followed, still afar off. Some- 
times in the synagogue, sometimes in the 
streets, oftener in the hills or by the sea, he 
listened to the Master’s words, and his soul 
burned within him, though he dared not 
offer his service. 

About this time Ednah and Julia came to 
Capernaum. Jacob’s reports had excited 
them. They, too, must see and hear Jesus. 
Ednah came with a heart full of love for the 
Master, and Julia with an amount of curiosity 
unendurable at Nazareth. 

'‘Where is he?” they asked as soon as 
they had arrived. 

"He has gone to the mountains, because 
of the multitude,” said the wife of Gershom, 
who sat alone in the house. "And there, 
too, you will find Jacob and the lads; the 
whole city has gone to seek him.” 


CHAPTER XVIII 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 

T N the plain between the Horns of Hattin 
was a great assembly. These people 
had followed Jesus from Capernaum, and all 
the way along the shore of Galilee. There 
Jacob found them. The Master, they told 
him, had chosen twelve from among his 
disciples, and led them up into the mountain. 
The people were waiting for Jesus and his 
disciples to return. 

It was again the month Abib, the season 
of verdure and flowers. All the plain and 
the hillsides were spangled with rainbow- 
tinted faces smiling up from the new spring 
grass; overhead arched the cloudless blue, 
against which majestic Hermon seemed to 
rest, and below, the blue waters of Galilee, 
white with the wings of busy ships, rippled 
in the sunlight. Beyond the lake the barren. 


247 


248 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

basaltic cliffs gleamed dark and bright, grand 
in their desolation. 

A shout went up from the people, and then 
a great silence fell upon them ; Jesus had come 
down the mountain and seated himself on a 
rocky elevation that easily overlooked the 
multitude. He stretched out his hand to 
them, and there was a great silence; the 
Master was about to speak. 

Libna and Jason and their mother were 
there, and Jason, catching a glimpse of the 
proud Jew lads, Dumah and Ethan, stole 
through the crowd, and, after fixing his eyes 
upon them for some moments, stepped up 
to them and pointing boldly at Ethan's gold- 
embroidered scarf, he said, “I can match 
that," and taking from his frock a bit of 
fringe, he fitted it to a gap in the scarf fringe. 
Regarding Ethan with a significant look, he 
replaced the bit of fringe in his frock and 
vanished. 

Ethan and Dumah drew nearer, looking 
into each other's eyes. "He knows we did 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 249 

it,*' said Diimah. ‘‘He had a wicked look. 
I fear him. Those fisher lads are reckless 
fellows." 

“A pretty time to think of that!" said 
Ethan, sharply. 

Jason stole back to his brother just as 
Jesus began to speak. He said nothing to 
Libna; he would take his revenge in his own 
way, and his brother should be free of blame. 

‘‘Blessed are the poor in spirit," said the 
Master. 

“The poor in what? " questioned the mother 
of the fisher lads. 

“Spirit," said Libna. 

“ Spirit," repeated the mother. “Well, I am 
poor in everything, so that must mean me." 

“Hush!’* said Jason. 

“For theirs is the kingdom — ** Jacob's 
heart leapt to his throat. The promise to 
share his kingdom! Who were the poor in 
spirit? And all about, heads were turned 
this way and that, each asking in his heart, 
“Who are the poor in spirit?" 


250 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


^‘For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” 

Jacob’s heart sank like lead. That was 
not the kingdom he thirsted to hear about. 

'‘Blessed are they that mourn: for they 
shall be comforted.” 

Only Jesus himself knew how many sad 
hearts caught at those words. Hitherto there 
had been no such thing as comfort for the 
mourners. They did not at all understand 
how it could be, and they never had heard of 
mourning for one’s sins. They did not under- 
stand, but he had said it, and he spoke no 
idle words. 

"Blessed are the meek: for they shall 
inherit the earth.” 

Ah! that was the promise Jacob had waited 
for, but — the ''meeky Could it be he had 
heard aright? It was the proud and righteous 
Jew who was some day to inherit the earth 
in place of the Roman tyrant, not the lowly 
Gentiles. And they were not meek either, 
but a bold and boisterous people. Who were 
the meek? Perhaps his disciples. Was Jesus 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 251 

intending to exalt them when he came into 
his kingdom? Verily, he had best hasten 
to make himself one of them. 

‘‘Blessed are they that hunger and thirst — 

The poor widow stretched out her arms. 
“O thou, who knowest all things, knowest 
how oft I and my sons do hunger and thirst 
for meat and drink.'’ 

“That hunger and thirst after righteous- 
ness: for they shall be filled.” 

‘ ‘ Righteousness ! ” Now the widow of Gali- 
lee had never experienced that sort of hunger. 
To be filled with bread seemed more desirable 
by far. But Jacob the Jew boy straightened 
up at the sound of that word. That blessing, 
at least, was for the Jews, for no one thirsted 
so intensely for righteousness as they. 

“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall 
obtain mercy.” 

Jason’s was not the only face that frowned 
at hearing that blessing. Mercy they neither 
asked nor gave. That they needed it daily 
for their soul’s salvation they did not dream. 


252 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


The poor, and the sick, and the outcast 
roused a little, and wondered vaguely if that 
blessing had aught to do with the bettering 
of their hopeless lot. In that country the 
lot of the poor and the sick was pitiful ; they 
were left to live or die as best they might. 
The law of Moses provided for them, but the 
Talmud, which had been built around the 
Law, said the sick and the poor should ''be 
accounted as dead.’' 

There was a stir in the crowd; a group of 
Pharisees and Rabbis were making their way 
nearer to the Mount. 

What was Jesus saying now? "Blessed 
are the pure in heart: for they shall see 
God." 

The pure in heart! The pure in heart! 
Was there one in that great multitude could 
claim the reward of that blessing? Was 
there one who had no unclean or evil thoughts 
in his heart? Even the righteous Jacob 
shrank from that question. The righteous- 
ness he possessed was the kind that is put 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 253 

on like a garment, to give one a good appear- 
ance in the eyes of the world. That was 
the sort of righteousness the Jews thirsted 
after. 

Julia, with her arm about her cousin, 
thought, ^‘If that means any one, it must 
mean Ednah”; and Ednah, with uplifted 
eyes, prayed, ‘'Lord, make my heart pure.” 

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they 
shall be called the children of God.” 

That certainly did not mean the frowning 
Rabbis and priests, who were there for a very 
different purpose from peacemaking. It cer- 
tainly could not be claimed by Jacob, who 
treasured feelings not akin to peacemaking 
toward his old enemy, Lucas. Not the two 
Jew lads or the two fisher lads; they had no 
intention of making peace with each other — 
quite the contrary. But to be the children 
of God was what all Jews desired, and believed 
themselves to be. Who were the peace- 
makers who were to be blessed equally with 

them? 

17 


254 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


‘‘Blessed are they which are persecuted 
for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the 
kingdom of heaven.” 

Who were these but the Jews? Were 
they not righteous, and were they not per- 
secuted to the death by their conquerors? 

The Jew boys gave nods of satisfaction to 
each other, while Jason and Libna dropped 
back a little farther in the crowd. 

“He is not like John,” said Libna. 

“No, he is not,” answered Jason; “I've 
heard enough.” To hear the self-righteous 
Jews blessed was more than he could endure. 

“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile 
you, and persecute you, and shall say all 
manner of evil against you falsely, for my 
sake.” 

Those words were like a trumpet call to 
Jacob. He had waited long for that; an 
assurance for those who should follow him. 
Just to be sure of the recompense was what 
he needed to decide him. He began to work 
his way toward the mountain. 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 255 


Rejoice, and be exceeding glad’’ — aye, 
Jacob was exceeding glad; he had all faith 
in the Master’s words — “for great is your 
reward — in heaven.” There was a sudden 
confusion in Jacob’s mind, his limbs lost 
their strength. Why this far-off promise? 
Why not the promise he had given the meek? 
Why was it that the meek only were promised 
the inheritance of the earth? 

“Think not that I am come to destroy the 
law or the prophets : I am come not to destroy, 
but to fulfill,” Jesus was saying when Jacob’s 
confusion had a little subsided. The Phari- 
sees, Rabbis, and priests exchanged glances. 

“Whosoever therefore shall break one of 
these least commandments, and shall teach 
men so, he shall be called the least in the 
kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do 
and teach them, the same shall be called 
great in the kingdom of heaven.” 

The Rabbis shrank back again under their 
robes. Had not they, and the Rabbis before 
them, taught the people and bound the people 


256 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

by the traditions of their own making, and 
oftentimes in opposition to the Law? Who 
was he that dared accuse them? He had 
told the woman of Samaria ''all things that 
ever she did/' Could he also see every 
thought and deed of their lives? 

"For I say unto you. That except your 
righteousness shall exceed the righteousness 
of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no 
case enter into the kingdom of heaven." 

There was an immediate uprising among 
the Jews, and loud murmuring. Ednah held 
her breath at these daring words; Julia was 
frightened and vexed. She knew that from 
this time the Jews would be the enemies of 
Jesus. 

One of the Jews touched Jacob on the arm. 
' ' Hearest thou? ’ ' he asked, sneeringly . ' ' An- 

other John." 

"Look you," said a Jew standing at his 
right, "how this Jesus has been against us 
from the first; now he has openly betrayed 
himself. Did he not despise the traditions 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 257 


of the elders and instruct the people with 
laws of his own making? Has he not pro- 
fessed to forgive sins? And for that alone 
he merits death. Has he had broken the 
laws of Moses and healed on the Sabbath? 
Does he not allow his disciples to neglect the 
fasts, and to eat with unwashed hands, and 
sit at the tables of publicans and sinners? 
His very disciples whom he had chosen are 
Gentiles, and a publican.” 

“He is condemned,” said Jacob to himself, 
and angry and distressed, he fell back farther 
and farther in the great multitude. Jesus 
never would be accepted by the Jews for 
their Messiah and king. Why — why did he 
make enemies of the Jews? 

The rulers of the Jews would have taken 
Jesus there, but they looked over that great 
sea of attentive, upturned faces, and they 
dared not. They must abide their time. 
This dangerous man would teach the people 
to despise the Jews and refuse their authority. 
He had to-day chosen men to go about the 


258 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


country to spread his traitorous teachings. 
Something must be done — and soon. 

They did not depart, however; they lis- 
tened to hear what more Jesus would say to 
the people. Jacob, too, stayed his retreat 
before he was out of hearing. 

'‘Ye have heard that it hath been said. 
An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” 
Jesus continued, apparently unmindful of 
the wrath of the doctors or the disappoint- 
ment of his friends; “but I say unto you. 
That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall 
smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him 
the other also.” 

Now what words were these? Whoever 
had heard anything of this kind? Lucas 
and the fisher lads, who had been smiling 
broadly and muttering words of approval, 
now looked bewildered. Jew and Gentile, 
peasant and priest, learned Rabbi and humble 
fisherman, were alike astonished at this 
doctrine. 

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 259 

Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine 
enemy. But I say unto you, Love your ene- 
mies, bless them that curse you, do good to 
them that hate you, and pray for them 
which . . . persecute you.’' 

One by one, here and there all through that 
great multitude, would-be followers of Jesus 
stole out and went their ways. ‘Ht is too 
hard for us,” they said. ”Who can love his 
enemy?” 

The poor widow, the mother of Jason and 
Libna, gave rapt attention to every word 
that came from Jesus’s lips. It was mar- 
velous, the sayings of this strange Rabbi. 
Never man spake like this man! 

'‘Behold the fowls of the air: for they 
sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather 
into barns ; and your heavenly Father f eedeth 
them. Are ye not much better than they?” 

Many eyes turned to the swallows dipping 
and skimming over the mountainside. Surely 
the God who watched over his creatures of the 
air would not forget his children. 


260 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


“And why take ye thought for raiment? 
Consider the lilies of the field, how they 
grow,“ continued Jesus, spreading his hands 
toward the variegated hillslopes, “they toil 
not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto 
you. That even Solomon in all his glory was 
not arrayed like one of these. 

“Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the 
field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast 
into the oven, shall he not much more clothe 
you, O ye of little faith? 

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his 
righteousness; and all these things shall be 
added unto you.’' 

The poor widow caught at these last words. 
That, then, was what she must do to place 
herself under the care of this God of the Jews. 
Truly he was very unlike the Jews, who 
cruelly oppressed the poor. But how was 
she to get into the kingdom of God, and who 
could live the righteousness that Jesus had 
commanded in the Father’s name? Was 
there no other way? 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 261 


Julia, too, listened eagerly to the words 
about raiment, but she was disappointed. 
''Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his 
righteousness, and all these things shall be 
added unto you.” Ah! would that indeed 
bring her all the jewels and splendid raiment 
she desired? But when she pondered on the 
way to secure these things, she despaired, 
and like those deserters in the camp, she 
murmured within her heart, "It is too 
hard.” 

At last the long sermon was ended. It was 
the longest sermon that the people had ever 
listened to, and it was the most wonderful. 
Jesus came down from the mountain, and 
though not a few had deserted him never to 
follow him more, though the angry Jews 
separated themselves from the people and 
went their ways, still there was a great multi- 
tude that followed him to the shore, and 
people with divers diseases that prayed him 
to heal them. 

The young men and the lads went their 


262 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


ways thoughtfully, pondering on the words 
of Jesus or conversing with each other. Lucas 
walked alone. The sons of Gershom were 
with Jacob, and the fisher lads just behind 
them looked at them curiously, as if it was 
their first sight of them. The two thoughts 
uppermost in the minds of the six were the 
same. 

“Jacob, did you hear him say, ‘First cast 
out the beam out of thine own eye?’ ” asked 
Ethan. 

‘ ‘ Aye ! ’ ’ answered Jacob. 

“And Tove your enemies ’ asked Dumah. 

“Aye!” 

“What he says is, that all men are sinners, 
and that we had best think on our own sins 
rather than another man’s.” 

“Aye,” answered Jacob again. It was 
such a new thought. 

“And if there is any one we hate, we must 
do him good.” 

There was no answer to this. 

“Believest thou?” asked Ethan. 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 263 

must think the matter over/* said 
Jacob, evasively. 

''And if any fellows play us a mean trick, 
we are to return them a good deed,’’ said 
Jason to his brother. "I like it not. Shall 
any hypocrite of a Jew, that chances to pass 
by, overturn my fish for sport, and lose me 
my day’s work, and send me to bed hungry, 
and I return him kindness? Not I.” 

But for all Jason’s harsh words, Libna saw 
that his brother was much disturbed. ' ' There 
was a promise,” he said, "if we cast the beam 
out of our own eye, that we should see how 
to pull the mote out of another’s eye.” 

"And are our sins as beams and our neigh- 
bors’ as motes?” Jason laughed. He did 
not see this plainly; indeed, he saw just the 
reverse. There might, of course, be some 
little things remiss with him, motes in his 
eye, but the crying evils, the beams, he was 
sure were in other lads’ eyes. 

But the Master had said it, and the saying 
troubled him, for the Master was wise with 


264 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

a wisdom no other man had ever possessed. 

The next morning Jason said to Libna, 
*‘We will give fair weight to-day.*’ 

‘‘Yes,” agreed Libna readily, “and the 
small fish and the flat fish we will throw 
overboard.” 

‘‘Nay; but we will give them to the beg- 
gars,” said Jason. 

‘‘We did play those fisher lads a mean 
trick,” said Dumah that same morning, to 
his brother. “I told father about it, and he 
said the fish was all their living.” 

When the fisher lads returned, Gershom, 
the father of Ethan and Dumah, stood on 
the shore, and made them the best offer 
they had ever had for their fish. 

When the bargain was concluded, Jason 
gave a scrap of fringe to Gershom. 

‘‘For Ethan,” he said. 


Part IV 

OUR REDEEMER AND SAVIOUR 

“Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends 
of the earth." 



CHAPTER XIX 


THE MESSIAH 

J ACOB returned to Jerusalem and was 
more than ever devoted to his studies. 
He took the roll of the prophets to the 
Rabbis, and asked them what was the mean- 
ing of the passage he had found that con- 
demned the observances and sacrifices and 
declared them an abomination to the Lord. 

“It means,” they said, “that to the de- 
gree the Temple is not kept holy, to the 
degree that the priests are unfaithful, to that 
degree our prayers are not heard, our sacri- 
fices not accepted.” 

Jacob was satisfied. He tried to forget 
Jesus of Nazareth, and passed by on the other 
side if he heard people in the streets talking 
of him. This, he persuaded himself, was 
indifference. 

He wondered if Jesus would dare come down 

267 


268 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

to the Passover which was near at hand. He 
must know that it was not safe. When he 
learned that he did come he was filled with 
anxiety for his safety. He heard of his being 
brought before the authorities for desecration 
of the Sabbath; he had healed a man of 
paralysis at Bethesda. He had excited the 
indignation of the Jews by calling God his 
father, but they had let him go. 

He had made his own defense when brought 
before the authorities, saying that it was 
lawful to do good on the Sabbath, and if it 
were permitted to rescue a sheep that had 
fallen into a pit on the Sabbath, certainly 
it was good to rescue a sick man from his 
disease. 

The officers were not used to such strange 
argument, and not knowing how to convict 
him, let him go. They could invent no 
accusation that would appeal to the people. 
The common people followed him about, 
and believed that he was the Messiah, and 
would reign over them ere long as their king. 


THE MESSIAH 


269 


It was a load from Jacob’s mind when he 
heard of Jesus’s release. But he knew it was 
but for a time. Pharisee, Sadducee, and 
priest, who had been bitter enemies, now 
conferred together how they might put Jesus 
to death. 

Jacob heard of it. Jesus was his friend; 
he loved him, and though he had given up 
all thought of becoming his disciple, not 
believing he was the Jewish Messiah, he 
would have no harm come to him, and for 
fear he could not rest. 

He made a secret journey to Bethlehem. 
He went by the back streets, and by the way 
of the straight gate, one of the little gates in 
the wall that led by covered ways outside 
the city. Only now and then a solitary 
traveler might be found in these narrow ways. 
The gates were kept always locked, and 
opened only to those who knocked, being 
immediately closed after them. 

At Bethlehem he went to the aged recorder, 
and himself looked at the page in the Book 
18 


270 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


of. Generations where the names of Joseph 
and Mary and Jesus were written, and he 
listened to the story of the shepherds from 
the old man’s lips. He went to the cave 
where they had found Jesus, and there he 
prayed to Jehovah that it might be given 
him to know whether this Jesus was the 
Messiah, and would one day become the king 
of the Jews. Then he returned to Jerusalem, 
climbing up the steep path, and knocked at 
the little gate in a niche of the wall. 

Jacob had hastened his steps, for the gate 
would not be opened to any one after sunset. 
He walked the dim passageway absently, 
thinking of the many prophecies concerning 
the Messiah. They seemed to be fulfilled 
in Jesus of Nazareth. 

He became aware of another presence in 
the passage, and looking up, met the sorrowful 
eyes of Jesus bent upon him. 

The look stirred Jacob’s soul, but he was 
dumb; he was not sure, and he was afraid. 
Why, even now the chief priests threatened 


THE MESSIAH 


271 


to forbid him to speak in the synagogues, 
and spies were sent to watch him wherever 
he journeyed. His kingdom, if it were to 
come, was certainly far off. 

So he passed Jesus with only the common 
salute of the people, ''Peace be unto you,” 
but when the Master answered with the same 
words, it was as if he blessed him. 

At the Temple, Rabbi Nathan met Jacob 
and he told him what he had done. The 
Rabbi was thoughtful. 

"I was in the synagogue,” he said, ‘‘when 
Jesus made his claim. ‘Verily, verily,' were 
his words, ‘he that . . . believeth on him 
that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall 
not come into condemnation; but is passed 
from death unto life.' He claimed that the 
works which he did were proof that God had 
sent him. 

“He said also that the Scriptures testified 
of him. He declared that Moses wrote of 
him, and that if they believed Moses, they 
would believe him.” 


272 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


After a silence, Jacob asked, '‘But how can 
he come into his kingdom when all the Jewish 
rulers hate him and conspire against him?” 

“I know not,” said Rabbi Nathan. ‘‘Je- 
hovah is mighty. If it is to be, it will be. 
All is a mystery.” 

Jacob was greatly impressed by this inter- 
view with his uncle. He believed in him 
more than in any other of the Rabbis, because 
he knew so well the purity and integrity of 
his life. He knew that he was just and merci- 
ful, and sought not worldly honors. He 
knew of his numberless kind deeds to the 
poor, sick, and afflicted, and even the sinner 
feared not to appeal to Rabbi Nathan. To 
his servants he was a kind master and greatly 
beloved; to his friends an ever ready listener 
and counselor. All the blessings uttered on 
the Mount at the Horns of Hattin, he thought 
might be claimed by his Uncle Nathan. 
Also, he had spent many years studying the 
Law, and he was familiar with the teaching 
of both Hillel and Schammai. That Rabbi 


THE MESSIAH 


273 


Nathan seriously considered the possibility 
of Jesus of Nazareth being the Jewish Mes- 
siah was sufficient for Jacob too. He be- 
lieved that to the good and wise Rabbi it 
was given to know the truth. 

It was not long before a report was brought 
that Jesus and his disciples had again violated 
the Sabbath. They had plucked ears of corn 
and eaten them as they walked through the 
cornfields. The vigilant spies, seeking oppor- 
tunity to accuse Jesus, maintained that 
plucking ears of corn was equivalent to 
reaping, and rubbing them in the hands 
equivalent to threshing, so two of the laws 
were broken. 

This prophet was continually defying the 
laws of the Jews, and the common people 
rejoiced over it, for so many binding obliga- 
tions were a heavy burden. The greater 
part of their lives was spent in repeating 
prayers, performing ceremonies, and attend- 
ing fasts, feasts, and services at the syna- 
gogues and the Temple. 


274 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

Jacob was greatly relieved when he heard 
that the Prophet of Nazareth was again in 
his own country. Though the watchful spies 
lurked in every city where Jesus was known 
to teach, still, he was safer than in Jeru- 
salem. 

As soon as Ednah heard that Jesus was 
returned to Capernaum, she made ready to 
go to ];ier kinsman’s, and Julia begged so 
hard to accompany her that she was fain 
to permit her. 

As soon as she was arrived she heard the 
people talking about the miraculous cure of 
the centurion’s son; the same who built 
the beautiful synagogue in Capernaum. But 
Jesus himself was not there; he had gone 
southward, and thither Ednah and Julia 
journeyed with a large company of people 
who sought him. 

As they came in sight of the whitewashed 
tombs (the ‘‘whited sepulchers,” such as are 
found outside every Jewish village and city), 
they saw two processions of people, one 


THE MESSIAH 


275 


going up to the village, one coming down. 
They heard mourning and wailing, and knew 
the procession from the village was come to 
bury its dead. The procession going up to 
the village must be the followers of the 
Master, and his disciples. 

They saw the companies meet, and both 
halted. One whom the travelers overtook 
told them that he who had died was the only 
son of a widow of Nain, the village they were 
nearing. 

As they drew near, they saw the bier 
lowered from the shoulders of the men who 
bore it. It was an open frame, such as is 
still used in Palestine. 

''Weep not ! ” Ednah heard Jesus say to the 
poor woman. Then moving to the side of 
the bier he spoke again: "Young man, I 
say unto thee, Arise." 

The young man immediately sat up and 
began to speak, and Jesus led him to his 
mother. 

The people were greatly affrighted; some 


276 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


fell on their faces, some prayed aloud; but 
more glorified God, and cried out that Jesus 
was a great prophet, whom God had sent to 
them. 

The next letter that Jacob received from 
his sister sent him in haste to Rabbi Nathan. 
'‘Behold,” he said, spreading the parchment 
before him, “he raises the dead also.” 

Gravely Rabbi Nathan read the story of 
the widow’s son. Long he sat pondering. 
“Shunem, just on the other side of the hill 
from Nain, is the place where Elisha raised 
the Shunemmite’s son. And down in the 
valley of Jezreel, Elijah dwelt, and it was he 
who raised the son of the widow of Sarepta,” 
he said at length. 

“What thinkest thou?” asked Jacob, half 
afraid to hear the answer. 

“He is the Messiah,” said Rabbi Nathan 
solemnly, folding his hands over the letter 
and raising his eyes to heaven in silent 
thanksgiving. 


THE MESSIAH 


277 


Jacob stole out of the Temple, and hasten- 
ing to his chamber, shut himself in. He was 
so afraid. He was afraid to believe the Mas- 
ter, the Prophet of Nazareth, was the Mes- 
siah, because he could not bring himself to 
give up everything and follow him, as he 
commanded. If he had united with the 
Jewish rulers all would have been plain, but 
now he had set them at naught, and aroused 
their jealousy and hatred. 

Jacob loved honor, and he loved luxurious 
living; all that he would have to renounce. 
Yet, if Jesus, were truly the Messiah he would 
one day, by a mighty move, claim his king- 
dom, and take possession of the throne, and 
all the earth would do him homage. But — 
between that time and this — Jacob could 
not face the thought. In the prophecies he 
had learned that the Messiah was to suffer 
all things before he became king. 

Jacob was young, life was pleasant. He 
received respect and favor as the nephew of 
the wise and beloved Rabbi Nathan, and as 


278 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


the nephew of a rich Jew he had influence 
among the youth of Jerusalem. Could he 
give up all this? 

He would wait — he would wait. 

From that time Jacob was convinced that 
Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, but he 
dared not acknowledge him openly. He 
sought out Nicodemus, the rich and influ- 
ential Jewish ruler, who. Rabbi Nathan had 
told him, was secretly interested in Jesus and 
confessed to having visited him by night. 
He had spoken strange words to him. He had 
said that he had come to save the world, 
and that all who believed on him would be 
saved. 

am greatly troubled,” Nicodemus had 
said, '‘for he condemneth the Jews, and what 
is it that cometh to pass? Will he cast out 
the priests and the rulers and appoint his 
own followers in their place?” 

So they talked; both fearing, both believ- 
ing, both waiting. 


CHAPTER XX 

FEEDING THE SHEEP 

W HILE many, like Jacob, waited, thou- 
sands followed, and the great work of 
healing the sick, casting out evil spirits, 
cleansing the lepers, and raising the dead 
went on; and the strange teaching. More 
and more the Jews hated the Prophet of 
Nazareth, and even schemed to destroy him; 
and more and more the multitude followed 
him with ever increasing enthusiasm. 

Finding that the people would pay no 
attention to any accusation brought against 
Jesus, because of his miracles, they tried 
arousing their superstitious fears by declar- 
ing that the Nazarene was possessed of an 
evil spirit. 

Failing in this also, they set another trap. 
They pretended friendliness, and invited 
Jesus to their houses, that they might lead 
him to talk, and so catch him in his words, 


279 


280 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

and convict him of some grievous sin against 
the Law. 

Rabbi Nathan was in Capernaum, and 
seeing Jesus enter the house of a Pharisee, 
he followed, it being a custom to leave houses 
open, free to strangers who came and went 
as they willed, conversing with the guests 
and even the host, if they chose. Of course, 
only Jews were supposed to take this liberty. 
The presence of a Gentile was defilement. 

Rabbi Nathan took a seat on the bench 
against the wall, next the door. He suspected 
some treachery, for he knew this Pharisee 
was an enemy to Jesus. 

As soon as Jesus took his place at the table, 
dark looks of anger were exchanged between 
the guests; Jesus had omitted the ceremony 
of washing his hands before coming to the 
table. 

Also, every Pharisee took a bath on coming 
from the marketplace, to purify himself from 
the defilement of the touch of the people. 
Jesus had not only come from the people 


FEEDING THE SHEEP 


281 


but had just cast out an evil spirit, and was 
doubly defiled. It was plain that he defied 
them, openly defied them before the world. 
But for all his boldness, they were not pre- 
pared for the scathing words in which he — 
reading their thoughts — addressed them. 

“Now do ye Pharisees make clean the out- 
side of the cup and the platter; but your 
inward part is full of ravening and wicked- 
ness. 

“Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, 
and swallow a camel! 

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites 1 for ye pay tithe of mint and anise 
and cumin, and have omitted the weightier 
matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and 
faith. 

“Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the 
uppermost seats in the synagogues, and the 
greetings in the markets. 

“Woe unto you, for ye are as graves 
which appear not, and the men that walk 
over them are not aware of them.” 


282 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

Though angry beyond measure, this was 
what they wished, that Jesus might talk on, 
and condemn himself. 

"‘Master, thus saying thou reproachest 
us also.'* It was one of the lawyers who 
spoke. 

Without an instant's hesitation the answer 
came: “Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye 
lade men with biurdens grievous to be borne, 
and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with 
one of your fingers. 

“Take heed, and beware of covetousness,'' 
he went on, “for a man's life consisteth not 
in the abundance of the things which he pos- 
sesseth.'' He followed this warning with a 
parable. 

“The ground of a certain rich man brought 
forth plentifully : and he thought within 
himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, because I 
have no room where to bestow my fruits?' 

“And he said, ‘This will I do: I will pull 
down my barns, and build greater; and there 
will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 


FEEDING THE SHEEP 283 

'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, thou 
hast much goods laid up for many years; 
take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ 

"But God said unto him, ‘Thou fool, 
this night thy soul shall be required of thee: 
then whose shall those things be, which thou 
hast provided?’ 

"So is he that layeth up treasure for him- 
self, and is not rich toward God.” 

Rabbi Nathan returned to Jerusalem, and 
carried these words to Jacob. Jacob was 
startled; he had believed that heaven was 
open to receive all Jews, and when he heard 
them condemned by Jesus he had not sup- 
posed himself or any honest Jew included in 
the condemnation. Jesus had said that it 
was necessary to believe on him to be saved, 
and he did believe on him. But now it 
seemed that besides living an upright life 
and believing on him, there was something 
to do. 

Jacob had been more interested in securing 
the honors and pleasures of the world than 


284 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

the future joys of heaven. It now, for the 
first time, occurred to his mind that it might 
be a more important matter to provide for 
his eternal welfare. 

^‘Of one thing I am certain,” said Jacob; 
“the Master feareth no man. He will say 
the words he has come to say, and do the 
works he has come to do.” 

The Jews, having now openly declared their 
hostility and evil intentions, sought every 
means to entrap Jesus, and to make way with 
him without exciting the people. 

Capernaum was no longer a safe place for 
Jesus. They heard of him at Gadara, on 
the farther side of Galilee. They were afraid 
of him there, having heard the slander that 
Jesus cast out devils by Beelzebub. When 
they saw two men healed who had been pos- 
sessed, and saw the swine that the evil spirits 
entered and drove into the sea, the people 
came out of the city and begged him to 
leave them. 

Jacob heard from Ednah how Jesus had 


FEEDING THE SHEEP 285 

visited Nazareth, and been rejected because 
he declared himself the Messiah. And the 
rulers had attempted to take his life, but he 
saved himself from them. 

Jacob and Rabbi Nathan gave thanks that 
Jesus was not at Jerusalem, there was such 
an excitement in the city. The governor, 
Pilate, had undertaken to build conduits to 
supply the city with water, and had appro- 
priated a sum of money from the Temple 
treasury to aid in the work. 

To the Jews this was sacrilege; roused to 
indignation by the priests and Rabbis, the 
people had appealed to Pilate, when he came 
up to the Feast of Tabernacles to see that 
order was preserved, and with great clamoring 
demanded that the building of the conduits 
cease. And Pilate, wearied with their cries, 
sent soldiers among them, disguised, who beat 
them down with their cudgels. The tower 
near Siloam was already in building, and it 
fell, and crushed eighteen men. The Jews 
believed it was a judgment of God on these 
19 


286 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


men for doing this work under such circum- 
stances. 

Rabbi Nathan so feared that Jesus would 
come down to the Passover, that, aged man 
as he was, he made another journey to Caper- 
naum that he might warn him. Before he 
reached the city he overtook a band of apostles 
who had been sent out to teach and to heal, 
in the cities and villages, and who were now 
returning. 

Rabbi Nathan followed these men; and 
many more, who were on their way to Jeru- 
salem, and had turned aside to see the Great 
Prophet, joined them. 

They followed to the seashore, but on 
arriving there found that Jesus had taken 
ship with the apostles, and departed to the 
other side. Some had seen the boat and the 
direction it had taken, and they hastened by 
land. It was six miles by the lake, farther 
by land. 

When the boat touched the shore a great 
multitude awaited it. Jesus had sought rest. 


FEEDING THE SHEEP 287 


and would hear the reports of the apostles’ 
work ; but this could not be now. There were 
the eager people, with all the sick they could 
bring, waiting for him. He healed them, and 
then began to teach them. 

Rabbi Nathan had followed in a boat and 
remained all day with the multitude, listening 
to the words of Jesus. The people had come 
in such haste they had forgotten to take 
bread, and they had been so absorbed in 
listening to Jesus that they had not been 
conscious of any bodily needs. Now the 
day was far spent; the disciples came to 
Jesus and asked him to send the people into 
the city to buy food. Nothing could be had 
in that desolate place. 

“Give ye them to eat,” he said to the 
astonished disciples. 

“There is no food here,” said one, “except 
five loaves, and two small fishes that this 
little lad hath.” 

“Make them sit down,” said Jesus, and 
the people were divided into companies of 


288 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


fifty and a hundred, and seated on the grassy 
slopes, their many-colored garments showing 
as gay as the flowers about them. There 
were five thousand people, besides women and 
children. 

The disciples waited, wondering. Jesus 
took the basket and blessed it, and gave it to 
the disciples, and the disciples divided it 
among the people. As many times as they 
returned there was more in the little basket'i 
and the whole multitude was fed. 

More than that , they gathered up of the frag- 
ments, after all had eaten, twelve baskets full. 

^^He is the Messiah,'' said the people one 
to another. ^'The Rabbis themselves told 
us that when the Messiah came he would 
feed us, as Moses did the children of Israel 
in the wilderness." What a time it would 
be now for him to exercise his power and 
conquer the Roman! 

Rabbi Nathan waited to see what Jesus 
would do. Had the time indeed come, when 
he would claim his kingdom? 


FEEDING THE SHEEP 289 

Jesus hastily sent his disciples away, dis- 
missed the people, and disappeared among 
the hills. 

There was nothing for Rabbi Nathan to do 
but return. So he and his companions went 
down to their boat and set sail for the oppo- 
site shore. The wind arose and beat them 
back, and they made little headway. The 
waves ran high, and all feared for their lives. 

In the gray dawn of the early morning 
they discovered another boat not far from 
them, and while they were trying to make it 
out, they saw the form of a man walking on 
the sea. 

'‘It is a spirit!” said the men in great fear. 

The figure moved toward that other boat 
and entered it, and the boat vanished into 
the gray mist. The storm of wind ceased, 
and the rest of the journey was made speedily. 

On reaching the shore they found the boat 
they had seen in the mist, and the people 
there said that the Master and his disciples 
had landed some time ago. They were 


290 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


talking in hushed voices, and pointing over 
the lake. They knew that Jesus had sent 
his disciples away the previous night, and 
that there was no boat on the shore. They 
had inquired of the disciples how it was that 
Jesus was with them, and they had answered, 
‘‘He came to us, walking on the waves. We 
thought it was a spirit. He said to us, ‘ It is 
I; be not afraid.' Then we knew him." 

“Even the wind and the sea obey him," 
murmured Rabbi Nathan; and walking on, 
he thus took counsel with himself: 

“What need have I to warn the Master, 
who knoweth all things, and hath all power? " 
And he straightway returned to Jerusalem. 
All the way the words, “It is I; be not 
afraid," rang in his ears. He had calmed 
the waves of Galilee. Was he not as able 
to calm the waves of hate and jealousy rising 
high in the hearts of the Jewish rulers, who 
feared that Jesus would remove them from 
their places of honor, and supplant them, 
reigning supreme over the Jews? 


FEEDING THE SHEEP 


291 


“I will no more fear the powers of dark- 
ness/' concluded Rabbi Nathan, “for a 
greater is here. 

“ ‘Praise ye the Lord,' " chanted the glad 
Rabbi, as he journeyed homeward. “ ‘Praise 
ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him 
in the heights. 

“ ‘Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye 
him, all his hosts. 

“ ‘Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise 
him, all ye stars of light. 

“ ‘Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and 
ye waters that be above the heavens. 

“ ‘Let them praise the name of the 
Lord: for he commanded, and they were 
created. 

“ ‘He hath also stablished them for ever 
and ever: he hath made a decree which shall 
not pass. 

“ ‘Praise the Lord from the earth, ye 
dragons, and all deeps: 

“ ‘Fire, and hail; snow, and vapor; stormy 
wind fulfilling his word: 


292 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


'Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, 
and all cedars: 

" 'Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, 
and flying fowl: 

" 'Kings of the earth and all people; 
princes, and all judges of the earth: 

" 'Both young men and maidens; old men, 
and children: 

" ' Let them praise the name of the Lord/ 


CHAPTER XXI 

PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN 
HERE were many people in the cities 



and villages of Galilee who had been 
followers of John, and now that John was 
beheaded they followed the Prophet of Naza- 
reth, who had spoken words of praise of 
John, and testified that he was a true prophet, 
and “a bright and shining light.” 

But Antipas, fearing that Jesus was John 
returned to earth, and thus doubly dangerous, 
plotted to get rid of him. So Galilee grew 
daily more and more unsafe for the Master. 

Jacob and Rabbi Nathan stood in Solomon's 
Porch, between the two great brass pillars 
Jachin and Boaz, and looked down into the 
valley Kedron, watching a slowly advancing 
caravan. It was the time of the Feast of 
Tabernacles. 


‘^Where,” said Jacob, '‘will the Master 


293 


294 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

dwell henceforth? Neither Jerusalem nor 
Capernaum is safe, nor Nazareth.” 

At this same hour a secret conference was 
being held in an inner chamber of the Temple. 
Priest and Rabbi, Sadducee and Pharisee, 
were there, the elders of Israel. 

“He will come to the feast; we will send 
officers to take him,” they said. 

“Let us go out to the city gate and see 
who enters,” said Jacob to Rabbi Nathan. 

At the gate they saw several of Jesus’s 
disciples, and secretly inquired of them if the 
Master had come to the feast. They shook 
their heads, and passed on. 

It was morning, and Jacob and Rabbi 
Nathan took their way beyond the gates and 
followed a footpath through the vineyards 
on the steep hillside, resting near a wine- 
press. 

The press was open on the four sides, and 
there was a tower built over it for the watch- 
men. The vat was full of grapes, and the 
men were treading them, their clothes and 


PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN 295 

their bodies as red as blood. The air was 
filled with the rich odor of the fresh 
fruit. 

''He is not come to the feast/' said Rabbi 
Nathan to Jacob, as they rested under a 
great sycamore tree, and watched the wine- 
press. "He will not come now until the time 
of the Passover in the spring." 

"What will you do?" asked Jacob— mean- 
ing, "Now that you believe he is Messiah, 
what course shall you take?" 

"I inquired of him when I was in Caper- 
naum," said Rabbi Nathan, slowly. "I saw 
him facing all danger, fearlessly, surrounded 
by enemies, working ceaselessly to heal men 
of the diseases of their bodies and souls. 
I heard him say, ' He that is not with me is 
against me,' and I could not longer restrain 
myself. ' He is spending himself for our 
sakes,' I said to myself. 'Shall we not 
spend ourselves for him?' 

"I tried many times to get near, but could 
not. At last I was invited to Peter's house, 


296 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

and there I fell on my knees and asked the 
Master what I should do.’* 

Jacob feared ; to what had his uncle pledged 
himself? 

'‘What said he to thee?” 

” ‘Go thy way!’ ” 

“What meant he?” 

“To keep on with my duties until the time 
comes to confess him before men.” 

“When will that time be?” 

“When his enemies rise up against him.” 

Rabbi Nathan spoke quietly, but his man- 
ner did not deceive Jacob. He knew that 
his uncle had counted well the cost of this 
step before he had taken it. 

The day of the feast arrived; Rabbi Nathan, 
with Jacob beside him, sat in the Temple 
porch where the elders taught, when suddenly 
Jesus made his appearance among them, and 
began to teach the people who immediately 
gathered about him. 

His words revealed such wisdom, and such 
familiarity with the Scriptures, that one and 


PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN 297 

another exclaimed, ''Whence hath this man 
knowledge, being a Galilean, and never 
having studied in Jerusalem? Verily, he 
must be taught of God!’' 

The people began to ask, "Is not this he 
whom the Jews seek to kill? Why do they 
not seize him now? Have they also become 
persuaded that he is the Christ?" 

Others answered derisively, "How can this 
man be Christ? He is a Nazarene. We 
know him, and his people are here with us." 

Both Rabbi Nathan and Jacob hastened 
to say, "He is of the city of David. It is 
written in the Book of the Genealogies of 
Bethlehem." But little heed was given to 
their words, except by one or two who looked 
at them sharply, saying nothing. 

The last day of the feast arrived, a glorious 
autiimn day. The great procession of pil- 
grims, with music and Hosannas, marched 
around the city seven times, in commemora- 
tion of the fall of Jericho when the Israelites 
marched about that city. 


298 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

Others followed the priests and Levites to 
Siloah to see them fill the golden bowl with 
water from the spring, and carry it with 
rejoicings to the Temple. 

Jesus, standing in the porch amid the peo- 
ple, saw the triumphal procession climbing the 
hill, the golden bowl held aloft by one of the 
priests. '"‘If any man thirst, let him come 
unto me,’ and I will give him living waters. 
‘He that belie veth on me shall never thirst.’ ” 

Many believed on Jesus for that saying, and 
Jacob fell at his feet, confessing, “Master, I 
believe that thou art the Christ. What wilt 
thou that I do for thee?” 

The words were hardly out of his mouth 
when several Rabbis seized him and pushed 
him into the inner court. “Thou art beside 
thyself,” said one. “See how this Prophet 
turns the heads of our young men!” 

They jested over Jacob’s impulsiveness, 
but he protested that he was in earnest, that 
it was a deliberate act. They only laughed 
the more, and went out, leaving him there. 


PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN 299 

Jacob quickly followed. The people had 
dispersed. The chief priests (Sadducees) and 
Pharisees waited for the return of the officers. 
When they presented themselves empty 
handed the priests were exceedingly angry. 
‘‘Why have ye not brought him?” they 
demanded. 

“Never man spake like this man,” they 
answered. 

“Are ye also deceived?” they cried, wrath- 
fully. “Who are the people that believe in 
him? The rabble, the heathen, the Galileans! 
You do not find the rulers, the learned in the 
Law, accepting his teaching. No one know- 
ing the Law could believe on him.” 

There came a voice from the elders. ‘ ‘ Doth 
our law judge any man before it hear him 
and know what he doeth?” 

“Art thou also of Galilee?” they mocked. 
“Search, and see that out of Galilee ariseth 
no prophet.” 

The next day Jacob was again at the Tem- 
ple, hoping to meet Jesus. He found a great 


300 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

gathering; he could not reach the porch. He 
knew by that sign that Jesus was there. He 
heard the name Abraham spoken, then one 
of the Rabbis said, ‘‘Thou art not yet fifty 
years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” 

Every voice was hushed to hear the answer. 

“Before Abraham was, I am.” 

The very words of Jehovah to the Israelites 
in Egypt! 

All the enemies in the great assembly 
seized the stones lying at hand (left from the 
work on the Temple, which never had been 
finished) and sought to stone Jesus. 

Jacob, in great terror, struggled forward, 
with intent with his own body to shield Jesus 
from the fury of the multitude, but he had 
disappeared, and in the confusion no one 
could tell whither he went. 

The scene at the Temple did not weaken 
Jacob's decision to become a follower of the 
Prophet of Nazareth, but it led him to con- 
sider whether he had not best keep quiet 
until the crisis arrived. The Master was 


PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN 301 

able to protect himself, and he coiild do no 
good by getting himself stoned or arrested. 
When the Messiah openly declared himself 
the King of the Jews, and claimed his king- 
dom, then he too would take his stand on 
Jesus’s side. 

After this, too, it was reported that any 
one confessing belief in the Messiahship of 
Jesus should be put out of the synagogues. 
This report was confirmed by the excom- 
municating of a beggar who had been bom 
blind, and to whom Jesus had given his sight. 

Finding that Jesus lingered in Judea, 
Rabbi Nathan sent Jacob to Nazareth with 
a commission that would detain him until 
the time of the Passover. 

Jacob was greatly astonished at the change 
that had come over Julia. Instead of the 
vain and boisterous maid with the cove- 
tous spirit, he found a glad-hearted, modest 
woman. 

'‘It is the Master,” she answered when 

Jacob questioned her. “I could not forget 
20 


302 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

his words. I tried, but I could not. ^What 
shall it profit a man,' he said, rif he shall gain 
the whole world, and lose his own soul? Seek 
ye first the kingdom of God,' he said. When I 
saw the lilies in the field, they whispered these 
words to me, and the birds of the air sang 
them to me. 

'‘We asked the Master, Ednah and I, 
how we should seek the kingdom of God, and 
he said, ‘Keep my words.' 

“ ‘Shall we follow thee?' we asked him. 
He said, ‘Go thy way. Do that thy hand 
findeth to do, and confess me before men.' 

“Few in Nazareth believe he is Messiah. 
We have gained a few souls. We are happy. 
Will he come to his kingdom soon?" 

“When he wills," answered Jacob. “I 
believe it will be soon." 

Ednah and Julia begged to accompany 
Jacob to Jerusalem, but he feared a tumult 
if Jesus were at the Passover. And if he 
claimed his kingdom then, there would be 
he knew not what. 


PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN 303 

Jacob took the longer and safer road home, 
the highway on the east side of the Jordan. 
On the second day, being in the region of 
Perea, he came upon a multitude of people. 
A hush fell upon them as he drew near. He 
heard the familiar voice of the Master saying: 

‘‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest 
the prophets, and stonest them which are sent 
unto thee, how often would I have gathered 
thy children together, even as a hen gathereth 
her chickens under her wings, and ye would 
not! 

''Behold, your house is left unto you 
desolate; for I say unto you. Ye shall not 
see me henceforth, till ye shall say. Blessed 
is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." 

The inexpressible sadness and tenderness 
of that voice moved Jacob, and the hushed 
multitude with its sea of upturned faces 
added to the impressiveness of the voice. 
Neither Rabbi Nathan nor his friends were 
there to hold him back. He made his way 
through the throng, and kneeling before 


304 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

Jesus, he said, “ Master, I will serve thee with 
my life/’ 

Now Jacob felt that he was making a 
tremendous sacrifice, and that he, a Jew, the 
son of a Pharisee and nephew of a learned 
Rabbi, was greatly honoring the Master by 
this open confession and consecration. 

Tenderly Jesus looked upon him; put his 
hands upon his head and blessed him. So 
he many times had blessed little children 
brought to him. 

Under that touch a new feeling awoke in 
Jacob’s heart. It was humility. He forgot 
his sacrifice; he forgot that he was conferring 
an honor upon the Master. He thought 
instead what a great favor was conferred upon 
him. The great Rabbi, the Prophet of Naza- 
reth, the Messiah, had accepted him! 

No word was spoken to him, and he dared 
ask no question. He stepped back, making 
room for the people, who, seeing his action, 
pressed forward that they might also declare 
themselves Jesus’s followers. As he did so 


PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN 305 


his eyes fell upon his old enemy, Lucas, 
who was steadfastly regarding him. 

Jacob was struck with the expression of the 
publican’s face. The mocking spirit had 
left it, and instead there was a subdued look 
as of conquered passion; and in place of the 
indolent, insolent air that had used so to 
exasperate him, he had become alert and 
attentive. 

Lucas smiled in a friendly manner as 
Jacob’s eyes met his, and moved toward him; 
but Jacob turned away. It was too abrupt; 
he dared not trust himself. He had not 
considered Lucas when he made up his mind 
to forsake all and follow the Master. 

A rush of memory brought to his mind 
the words he had heard on the Mount, 
'‘Love your enemies,” and that other, "If 
ye love me, keep my commandments.” He 
went away sadly, but only to return and 
drink in eagerly, day after day, the words 
of Jesus. 

Many parables the Master spake to the 


306 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

people. There was one that remained upper- 
most in Jacob’s mind. It was the parable 
of the Pharisee and the publican. 

'‘Two men went up into the Temple to 
pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a 
publican. 

“The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with 
himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not 
as other men are. . . . 

“And the publican, standing afar off, would 
not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, 
but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be 
merciful to me a sinner. 

“I tell you,” said Jesus, “this man went 
down to his house justified rather than the 
other: for every one that exalteth himself 
shall be abased ; and he that humbleth 
himself shall be exalted.” 

Jacob was confounded. He turned about, 
expecting to meet the attentive gaze of Lucas 
fixed upon him, but Lucas had lost himself 
in the crowd. Making his way out, he met 
a company of women with their children. 


PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN 307 


and he turned back vexed, for he knew they 
were taking them to the Master that he might 
bless them. (It was a custom for parents to 
take children to the Temple and synagogues 
for the Rabbis to bless.) The Master was 
weary and the day was far spent. Why 
should they trouble him? 

The disciples reproved them and sent them 
away, but Jesus called to them, saying, “Suffer 
the little children to come unto me, and 
forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom 
of God. 

“Verily I say unto you. Whosoever shall not 
receive the kingdom of God as a little child, 
shall in no wise enter therein.” 

As Jacob stood there and watched the 
innocent faces with their unquestioning faith, 
and earnest eyes, he learned the meaning of 
the parable of the Pharisee and publican; he 
understood who were the meek who should 
inherit the earth. He saw that his being a 
proud Jew would not find him favor with 
the Master, but that the less of a Jew he was 


308 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


the more pleasing he would be in his sight. 
The words of Jesus, ‘‘All men are brethren,’' 
came to his mind. 

This new light in Jacob’s mind brought 
pain and conflict. It was a choice between 
the world and the Master. How many times 
he thought he had fought that out! 

The following day, Jesus and his disciples 
left the beautiful upland pastures of Perea, 
bright in their spring verdure, and entered the 
district of Jericho. 

This plain was the richest spot in Palestine. 
Fruits were finer, maize yielded a double 
harvest, and wheat ripened a month earlier 
than in Galilee. The balsam plant, precious 
for its costly perfume and its healing qualities, 
flourished here, and many flowers not found 
elsewhere. 

From this fertile plain rose Jericho, with 
its gardens and groves and its many man- 
sions. And thither a great multitude fol- 
lowed Jesus. Many were on their way to 
the Passover. Many believed that now the 


PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN 309 

Messiah would be made a king. Had not all 
the world gone after him? 

It was a joyful company, for their feet 
were turned to Jerusalem, and no small 
number were those whom Jesus had restored 
to health. 

Jacob, as he looked and listened, remem- 
bered that Caiaphas had condemned the Mas- 
ter to death, saying it was better for one 
man to perish than that the whole country 
be led astray. 

While Jacob mused, some one touched him. 
''Here dwells Zaccheus, the hated head of the 
customhouse officers,” said Lucas. There 
was a large trade from both sides the Jordan. 

Jesus's disciples had now gathered about 
him, and seemed to be earnestly talking with 
him. As they drew nearer they heard him say, 
"There is no man that hath left house, or 
wife, or brethren, or parents, or children, for 
the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not 
receive manifold more in this time, and in 
the world to come eternal life.'' 


310 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


Two beggars by the wayside made such a 
commotion with their cries, that nothing 
more was heard. The people, as they passed 
by, endeavored to still the clamoring voices, 
but in vain. They were crying for Jesus of 
Nazareth. And when he came to them, he 
restored their sight, and they followed with 
the others, shouting, and singing praises. 

There were many priests in Jericho, and 
Jacob fervently hoped Jesus would do nothing 
to offend them. But before they had entered 
the city his hope died. A little man had run 
before the crowd of people, and climbed a 
wide-branching sycamore tree, — one of the 
evergreen fig trees, — and when Jesus passed 
by he looked up, and seeing the man there 
he said to him, “Zaccheus, make haste, and 
come down, for to-day I must abide at thy 
house.’' 

Jacob looked on in dismay, while the little 
man hastened down joyfully. There arose 
an ominous murmur from the people who were 
near enough to hear the words, which were 


PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN 31 1 

passed from mouth to mouth until the mur- 
muring swelled like a threatening tide. What 
Jew would set foot in the house of such a 
despised publican, this chief of publicans, well 
known for his extortion and dishonesty? 

'Man looketh on the outward appear- 
ance, but the Lord looketh on the heart,’ ” 
said Lucas. 

"Who taught thee that? ” demanded Jacob. 

"The Master," answered Lucas calmly; 
"and verily he is no respecter of persons." 

"Yea, he looketh on the heart," said Jacob 
humbly, and Lucas, with a quick glance at 
him, held out his hand, and Jacob clasped it 
in his. And from that day the two lads 
loved each other with a love as deep as their 
hatred had been. 

"He feareth no man," said Jacob, "for he 
knoweth he hath power to deliver himself 
from his enemies; yet I am shaken with 
anxiety." 

At Bethany Jesus left the multitude. He 
made his home with Mary and Martha, and 


312 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


Lazarus their brother, he whom Jesus raised 
from the dead when at Jerusalem. 

As the long caravan neared the city, Jacob 
and Lucas heard some saying that the high 
priests talked of putting Lazarus to death 
also, for many believed on Jesus because of 
him. 

Jacob went immediately to Rabbi Nathan. 
It was the eve of the Sabbath, and all the 
people were required to observe a three hours’ 
rest before the Sabbath, which began at six, 
and it was a very welcome rest to the tired 
pilgrims, weary with the long journey over 
the steep, rough highway. But Jacob could 
not rest until he had told his uncle all he had 
heard and seen. After he had told him about 
Zaccheus, he related the parable of the Phar- 
isee and publican. 

''Verily, the greatest sin is pride,” said the 
Rabbi, "for, see, it is easier to convert the 
ignorant and sinful publican, and the heathen, 
than the self-righteous Jew.” 


CHAPTER XXII 


THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS 

E arly on the morning of the first day 
of the week, Sunday, the Jews’ Sabbath 
being Saturday, Jerusalem was startled by 
the sound of shouting and singing as of a 
triumphal army. From the tower chamber 
Jacob looked across the valley toward Beth- 
any. There he saw a great procession wind- 
ing down from the Mount of Olives, and in 
the midst was one riding on an ass, while 
those that went before spread their garments 
in the way, and strewed palm branches while 
they sang. 

So, Jacob remembered, it had been proph- 
esied that the Messiah should come to his 
kingdom. He had waited for this sign. 

Not like a warrior mounted on a battle 
steed, not like the kings of earth with chariots 
and horsemen, but as the Prince of Peace, 
came Jesus. 

313 


314 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


What were the spoils of his victory that he 
was bringing with him? Captives? Much 
gold and precious stuffs? 

The captives that followed him were those 
who had been freed from fetters, not bound — 
freed from fetters of disease and sin. And 
they came not with wailings but with glad 
Hallelujahs. 

Jacob hastened down from the tower to 
the Golden Gate, quickly making the descent 
into the valley and joining the procession. 
This great company were people who had 
heard that Jesus was at Bethany and had 
gone thither. Now many others in the city, 
pilgrims, hearing that Jesus was on his way 
there, hastened out of the gate to meet him, 
cutting palm twigs as they went, and still 
others, seeing these, followed. The great 
Prophet from their own country, Galilee, 
was about to claim his kingdom, they 
believed. 

“Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed 
is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. 


THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS 315 

Hosanna in the highest !’’ the multitude sang 
until the mighty chorus filled the air. 

How had the people learned that this 
Nazarene was the descendant of David? 
The Pharisees in the throng tried to quiet 
them by threatenings, but they were too 
thoroughly aroused. At last they appealed 
to the Master himself, saying, ‘'Master, 
rebuke thy disciples.’* 

“If these should hold their peace, the 
stones would immediately cry out,” Jesus 
answered. 

So the procession went on, and as it poured 
into the city, which was gay with decorations 
of flags and banners, in readiness for the 
feast, the people leaned from every window 
and roof and asked, “Who is this that 
Cometh like a king?” 

And the jubilant Galileans made haste to 
answer: 

“This is Jesus, the Prophet of Nazareth.” 

After seeing Jesus take possession of the 
Temple in the name of Jehovah, and leaving 


3i6 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

him healing those that were brought to 
him, Jacob hastened to the house of Rabbi 
Nathan, who was now too feeble to go to the 
Temple, and told him all that had been done. 

Rabbi Nathan was reclining on a couch in 
the tower chamber; he had seen the triumphal 
procession and heard the Hosannas; he knew 
the King had come to his own. He beheld 
his Lord riding in honor. He had prayed to 
see this day. His age-dimmed eyes burned 
not with the fires that glowed in Jacob’s, but 
the peace that passeth all knowledge was in 
his heart, and he prayed aloud, Jacob mingling 
his praises with the good Rabbi’s. 

Returning to the Temple, Jacob found all 
in confusion. The cattle dealers came out 
of the court with their cattle, dove sellers 
hastened down the steps with their cages of 
doves, and the money changers followed, 
gesticulating wrathfully. 

“ By what authority doeth he these things? ” 
they said. “The Temple is in charge of the 
priests.” 


THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS 317 

“What hath he done?’’ asked Jacob, know- 
ing that it could be none other than Jesus 
who had given offense. 

“He hath sent all the traders out of the 
Temple,” said one who stood by, evidently 
approving the act. “He said that this house 
was the house of prayer, and they had made 
it a den of robbers.” 

When Jacob entered, he found Jesus quietly 
teaching the people, who listened, entranced 
by his wonderful words. 

Day by day Jacob listened to the Master’s 
voice speaking words of warning, consolation, 
and instruction, outwitting the wily Jews who 
sought to ensnare him, plainly reading the 
thoughts of their hearts. 

Jacob listened with fear and rejoicing, and 
stealthily watched the Jews, who he knew 
would not dare seize Jesus openly, for fear of 
the multitude who believed on him. Lucas, 
who was here and there and everywhere, 
reported to Jacob that one of the schemes 
was to accuse the Master to Pilate, of claiming 
21 


3i8 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


to be king. If they could do this, the Roman 
power would be secured. They dreaded these 
Messiahs of the Jews who were ever rising 
up and exciting the people to insurrection. 

'‘He is able to deliver himself even from 
the hand of the Roman,’' said Jacob. 

It was the night of the feast; the Passover 
had been eaten, the hurry and confusion were 
over, the Temple cleared of all but the regular 
watchmen, the thronged streets deserted save 
for a sleeping pilgrim here and there in a 
convenient corner, able to secure no other 
lodging. 

Both Rabbi Nathan and Jacob were sleep- 
ing in the summer chambers on the roof. 
Rabbi Nathan was restless, and frequently 
called to Jacob, "How goes the night?” 
and Jacob as often answered him, "All is 
well.” 

About midnight the good Rabbi’s restless- 
ness had so increased that Jacob proposed 
to go down to Bethany and see with his own 


THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS 319 

eyes that all was well. He, too, could not 
sleep for thinking of the Master. 

The gates were not closed the night of the 
feast, and Jacob went out into the silent 
streets of the sleeping city; out beyond the 
Golden Gate into the calm light of the 
Passover moon, down into the shadowed 
valley, fragrant with the breath of unfolding 
leafbuds and embroidered with a network of 
silver light falling through the interlaced 
boughs of the trees. On one side of the 
valley rose the Temple, white and grand like 
a vision of the night, and the indistinct forms 
of the castles and the great tower loomed like 
gigantic undefined fears. Looking down the 
valley, could be seen the hills where the man- 
sions of the Sadducees rose, nothing now but 
shadowy pageants; the Sadducees, which say 
there is no resurrection. One might almost 
believe them, to-night, so deathly is the 
silence. But had not every morning since 
the world began given the lie to their lips? 
Yea, every morning is a resurrection. 


320 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


Jacob looked across the valley to Olivet, 
softly outlined in the silvery light. A spell 
seemed upon the earth, and perfect peace 
reigned. To Jacob's fancy the silvered sum- 
mit of the mount seemed smiling up out of 
the quiet to the leaning sky, and the fields 
on its slopes were bathed in light. 

Hark! What was that? Certainly foot- 
steps! And that? The gleam of a torch! 

For an instant Jacob’s heart stood still and 
his strength seemed to go from him. Had 
the hour come, the dreaded hour when the 
Master would exercise his power over his 
enemies and be crowned king? 

He pressed forward through the shadows, 
and soon discovered a rabble, with a band of 
soldiers at their head, with lanterns and 
torches and staves in their hands. They 
moved up the side of the Mount, and Jacob, 
stealing as near as he thought safe, made out 
a detachment of the Temple watch, a few 
priests and elders, and servants from the 
palace of the high priest. 


THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS 321 

Jacob watched breathlessly to see them 
take the road to Bethany; but no, they took 
neither the camel path, nor the shorter foot- 
path, nor the lower way through the valley 
of Olivet. They turned a little aside, and 
approached the garden on the hillside, called 
Gethsemane. 

As Jacob followed, keeping in the shadows, 
a fearful whisper came to his ear. '‘They 
will kill him!’’ 

It was Lucas; he, too, had been suspicious 
of the crafty Jews, and going out into the 
streets to see if any evil thing were abroad, 
had come upon the soldiers marching from 
the castle Antonia, the Roman fortress, and 
had followed them. 

"They cannot kill him,” said Jacob. "He 
is able to strike them dead or to turn them to 
stone before his eyes.” 

At the gate, Jesus came out to meet the 
soldiers, and his disciples followed, looking 
bewildered and affrighted. 

"Whom seek ye?” asked Jesus. 


322 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

''Jesus, the Nazarene,” answered the leader. 

"I am he,’' said Jesus. 

The crowd fell back in great fear, and such 
a confusion and dread came upon Jacob that 
for some moments he was insensible to what 
was taking place about him. Lucas seized 
his arm in a vise-like grip. "They have 
taken him,” he said with a groan, "and he 
does not resist.” 

"They will feel his power when he wills,” 
said Jacob, his strength coming again. "His 
disciples will defend him, too. What are 
those with him doing? I cannot see; there 
is something between me and the light.” 

"Stand over here. They look frightened 
and uncertain. One of them dashes at a 
man with his sword.” 

"And what now?” questioned Jacob, hur- 
riedly. 

"He — has restored the man, and seems to 
reprove the disciples.” 

"He needs them not, and he will save them 
from violence,” said Jacob, confidently. "Did 


THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS 323 

he not say all power was given him in heaven 
and on earth? What are they doing now? 
I see nothing/’ 

‘^They have bound him, and the disciples 
have fled. They come this way, and he talks 
to the rabble.” 

The grip on Jacob’s arm loosened, and the 
voice at his ear ceased. Left in total dark- 
ness, not daring to move to the left or to the 
right, not knowing whether he stood in a 
sheltered spot or in the path of the company 
coming nearer and nearer, longing to rush 
into the rabble, and take his stand beside the 
Master, he prayed, ‘'Lord, that I might 
receive my sight!” 

Lucas, dropping his mantle at Jacob’s feet, 
stole through the trees like a white apparition, 
and when opposite Jesus he joined the rabble 
and gradually made his way to Jesus’s side. 
“Master,” he implored, “what wilt thou that 
we do for thee?” 

Jealous eyes were not wanting ; rough hands 
seized Lucas almost before the words passed 


324 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


his lips, and he was thrown back into the 
crowd. ‘'He is one of them!’' they shouted, 
and they clutched at him again and again as 
he struggled from under their hands, tearing 
his white tunic into shreds. 

Jacob still stood alone in the darkness. 
Every moment was an eternity. The voices 
drew nearer and nearer and passed by, growing 
more and more faint in the distance. 

A great despair seized him. The darkness 
and helplessness overcame him. “They have 
taken away the Master,” he cried out to the 
silence about him, “and I know not what 
they will do with him. And I, I cannot so 
much as lift a hand to aid him.” He leaned 
his arms against the tree beside him, and 
bowed his head on them. “ O God in heaven, 
help me!” he prayed. 

After a time he raised his head and listened. 
‘ ‘ He should be back by this, ’ ’ he said. ‘ ‘ Have 
they taken Lucas, too? Then indeed am I 
undone.” 

The suspense became so unbearable that 


THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS 325 

he began to grope about to find the path, 
thinking to make his way back to the city. 
After wandering about for some time, his 
foot touched something that was not grass, 
and, stooping, he raised from the ground a 
cloak. ^‘Lucas’s abba,” he said, examining 
it with his hands. He remembered that 
something dropped at his feet when Lucas 
left him. He had come back to the place 
he started from. 

Weary from his broken night's rest, his 
fears and despair, and the terrible suspense, 
he sank down upon the ground, and burying 
his face in the mantle of his friend he waited 
for the morning, when some one might chance 
to find him there. And the merciful angel of 
sleep visited him in that terrible hour, even 
as it had the disciples earlier in the night. 

“Sleeper, sorry am I to disturb thee,” said 
a voice near Jacob, “but I am in great need 
of that abba under thy head.” 

Jacob sprang up, crying out jo3dully, “It 
is Lucas!” and unnerved by this sudden 


326 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

relief, added to all the excitement of the 
night, he fell upon Lucas's neck and wept. 
“I surely thought they had killed thee," 
he said. 

"I am in rags," said Lucas. “The rabble 
were near the death of me, but here I am. 
Come, we had best make haste to the city; 
and this chill air strikes to one's marrow." 

“Then thou must lead me, for I am struck 
with blindness," said Jacob. 

It was a sad walk down that beaten path 
which the Master had trod so oft; the path 
he was never to tread again. The wan moon 
shone with a weird light that deepened the 
shadows and peopled them with evil fancies. 
Now and then Lucas started, Jacob knew by 
the tightened pressure on his arm. 

“A few days ago," he mused, “the Master 
rode over this path as a victor; to-night he 
is dragged over it as a criminal. Enemies 
on every hand lie in wait to spring upon him, 
and false witnesses will not be wanting to 
rise up against him. Alas! while I thought 


THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS 327 


the night so peaceful, those wicked ones were 
creeping about like the vipers he likened 
them to, and the air was thick with their 
whisperings and plottings.*’ 

At the house of Rabbi Nathan Jacob urged 
Lucas to leave him. ‘'They will *take him 
before the magistrates and they will send 
him to Pilate,” he said. “Go to the palace 
and bring me word.” 


CHAPTER XXIII 


REJECTED OF MEN 

S LOWLY Lucas departed on his sad 
mission. What would they do with 
the Master? He had committed no offense 
punishable with death, according to the laws 
of Moses, but they might attempt to stir up 
Antipas against him. If they could prove 
that he was a dangerous person inciting the 
people to rebellion, their desire would be 
accomplished. 

Lucas waited by the gate of the high 
priest's palace. He had not long to wait; 
the Jews were in great haste to take Jesus 
to Pilate before morning, fearing interference 
from the people. The Galileans in the city 
would rush to rescue him. When the doors 
opened and the self-appointed tribunal came 
out, Jesus was in the midst, bound. 

Lucas recognized John and Peter, two of 

328 


REJECTED OF MEN 


329 

the disciples, in the company, and signaling 
to them he asked what had been done. 

“There has been a mock trial,” they said. 
“He has confessed before them that he is the 
Son of God. They are taking him to the 
Sanhedrim to have the indictment endorsed; 
then he will be delivered to the prociirator, 
Pilate.” 

Before the judgment hall of Pilate’s palace 
was an elevated platform, called the Pave- 
ment, where criminal trials were held. This 
was a Roman custom. Here they led Jesus, 
and an extra guard was sent from the fortress, 
for the people were awake now, and gathering 
fast. 

Pilate, after the trial, declared that he 
foimd no fault in Jesus, and thought a man 
who claimed a kingdom not of this world a 
harmless sort of king. 

The chief priests and elders sprang up one 
after another, making accusations. He had 
stirred up the whole nation to rebel against 
Caesar, and persuaded them to become his 


330 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

followers, promising them favor in his king- 
dom. He had influenced them not to pay 
their tax, and defied the Roman powers. 

Pilate, knowing their jealousy and that 
what they feared was losing their own posi- 
tions among the Jews, and standing not a 
little in awe of this Nazarene of whom he 
had heard so much, sought to rid himself 
of the difficulty by sending Jesus to Antipas, 
tetrarch of Galilee, as Jesus was a Galilean. 
And Antipas being now at Moimt Zion in 
the Herodian palace, it was an easy matter. 

So Lucas followed to Mount Zion, and 
after another weary waiting the company of 
soldiers and Jewish rulers, with Jesus in the 
midst, again came out. Lucas knew not 
what to think; the Master had on a white 
robe, the royal robe of the Jews. 

*Ht is a mockery,’’ said one who stood by. 
'‘Antipas will have naught to do with him, 
and sends him back to Pilate.” 

Would this weary farce never end? Lucas 
followed back to Pilate’s palace. 


REJECTED OF MEN 


331 


It was sunset when Lucas turned his steps 
to the house of Rabbi Nathan. He was 
haggard, and swayed unsteadily as he climbed 
the steps to the upper rooms. With his 
hands pressed against his temples, he paused 
at the door of Jacob’s room. How could he 
tell the lad the terrible doings of the day — 
the saddest day that ever had been or ever 
would be in the history of the world! 

He pushed aside the curtains and looked in; 
and then he saw that he had no need to tell 
Jacob. He was tossing in a fever and mut- 
tering excitedly. Rabbi N athan and Athaliah 
were there. Lucas stumbled imsteadily across 
the floor and knelt by Jacob’s couch. 

That terrible hour had come and gone, and 
Jacob had not known. The dear Master 
had been beaten, mocked, and spit upon; 
crowned with a crown of cruel thorns, and 
bearing the cross for his crucifixion, he had 
walked through the streets of Jerusalem for 
the last time — the last time! 

Blessed darkness that hid this sight from 


332 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


Jacob’s eyes, and shut him from the sound 
of the hideous voices howling, ^‘Crucify 
him! Crucify him!” and shouting in deri- 
sion, ''The king of the Jews? The king of 
the Jews? We will have none of him. His 
blood be on us and on our children. Crucify 
him!” Of the agony on the cross, and the 
Saviour dying of a broken heart, Jacob was 
all unconscious; the terrible darkness and 
the earthquake that had brought such fear 
upon the people, were naught to him. The 
veil of the Temple was rent in twain, and 
Jehovah had forever departed from the Holy 
of Holies, but that disturbed not Jacob; 
he could not hear if one told him. 

"How long has he been like this?” asked 
Lucas. 

"Since the word came that the Master 
was condemned to be crucified,” said Atha- 
liah. "He cried out like one struck with 
death, and fell to the floor. When we took 
him up he was raving. We fear for his 
life.” 



He pushed aside the curtains and looked in 


Page 331 








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REJECTED OF MEN 


333 


Lucas said no more. He covered his face 
with his hands and remained there beside 
Jacob’s couch; his body trembled violently, 
and frequently he groaned like one in unbear- 
able pain. 

Athaliah, looking upon the two lads, broke 
into wailing. Rabbi Nathan was the only 
composed person in the house. '‘God is 
mightier than man,” he said. "He has 
permitted it.” 

He said not a word of his own sorrow at 
the death of the beloved Messiah, or of his 
bitter disappointment after the long waiting 
to see the redemption of Israel. 

On the third day after the crucifixion, early 
in the morning, Jacob started up, and cried 
out in his natural voice: 

"Did he not tell us many times that his 
kingdom was not of this world? Did he not 
tell us plainly that he must suffer all things 
and be rejected of the Jews and crucified, and 
we did not understand? And did he not say 
that on the third day he would rise again? 

22 


334 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


Oh, make haste, and go to his burial place. 
Even now he may be walking the earth!” 

Lucas, who had refused to leave his place 
beside Jacob’s couch night or day, now started 
up joyfully. 

'‘Go,” said Jacob, “see if that which he 
said is come to pass. Where was he buried? ” 

And Lucas answered, “Joseph of Ari- 
mathea dared not speak a word to save him, 
but he was so affected by his death that he 
boldly asked for the body and buried it in 
his own tomb. And Nicodemus, that other 
timid one, followed with Joseph to the burial, 
taking myrrh and aloes for the embalming.” 

“And the disciples, were none of them at 
the cross?” 

“One, John; and the women. And the 
Jews, for fear of his words that he would rise 
again, asked for a guard and that the sepul- 
cher might be sealed. So they rolled a great 
stone against the door and sealed it, and sent 
soldiers to watch.” 

“Go quickly,” said Jacob. 


REJECTED OF MEN 


335 


Lucas returned joyfully some hours later. 
‘‘He is risen; he has been seen of the women 
and two of the disciples ! There was an 
earthquake, and an angel came and rolled 
the stone from the door of the sepulcher; and 
the soldiers fled!’' 

To Lucas’s amazement, Jacob stood up 
and began to wrap his mantle about him. 
“Take me to his disciples,’’ he said. “He 
will come to them. He will restore my sight 
that I may behold him once more. My 
Master! O my Master!’’ 

Lucas dared not refuse Jacob’s request, 
though fearing he was not able to leave the 
house. 

Jacob thought to And the disciples rejoicing, 
but instead, they were plunged in gloom. 
They were in doubt about the story of the 
women and the disciples. They had gone 
to the sepulcher and had not seen him. It 
was midday now, and nothing more had been 
heard of him. They talked of disbanding, 
and going to their homes; two, even then. 


336 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

had started for Emmaus, which was about 
eight miles from Jerusalem. 

Jacob implored the rest to wait a little 
longer. So they waited, and talked of the 
Master until nearly sunset. They would 
not begin their journey until morning. 

As Jacob and Lucas were about departing, 
the two who had left at noon came in with 
glowing faces. The doors being carefully 
closed after them for fear of spies, they told 
a strange story of meeting the Master on the 
way, and how they did not know him until 
they sat at meat and he blessed the bread. 
Then he vanished out of their sight. 

Jacob and Lucas could not go now, but 
sat down with the rest at the table ready for 
the evening meal. 

Suddenly in their midst, through the closed 
doors, appeared Jesus. 

The disciples were affrighted and cried 
out, thinking it was a spirit. But Jesus 
showed them the prints of the nails in his 
hands and feet, and sat down and ate with 


REJECTED OF MEN 


337 


them, and explained to them many sayings 
of the Scriptures. He told them that they 
were now to witness for him, and then he 
blessed them and vanished. 

What a change had come over the little 
company! From deepest despair they had 
risen to rejoicing and confident faith. They 
looked into each other’s faces, which glowed 
with a holy light. Jesus was still their 
Messiah; he was with them, and had com- 
missioned them to work for him. 

On one face a shadow lingered. “I alone 
may not see him,” said Jacob, as he and Lucas 
returned to Rabbi Nathan’s house. '*He 
who has healed so many blind eyes takes no 
heed of me.” 

”I remember,” said Lucas slowly, ”he 
said he loved thee.” 

They walked the remainder of the way in 
silence. To Rabbi Nathan they told all that 
had taken place, and he uttered fervent 
praises to God, his face glowing even as the 
faces of the disciples. 


338 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


‘‘Why, think you, does he not restore my 
sight?’’ asked Jacob. 

“Of one thing I am sure,” said the Rabbi. 
“ It is his mercy. ’ ’ After a moment he added, 
“Thou hast declared thyself ready to suffer 
all things for his sake, and at the first trial 
thou murmurest.” 

Jacob went out from his uncle’s presence, 
and shut himself in his own room to fight 
the battle alone. 

“Master, thou knowest,” he prayed. “If 
it be thy will that I thus serve, thy will be 
mine.” 


CHAPTER XXIV 

WITNESS FOR HIM! 

WEEK from the day of Jesus's resur- 



rection he appeared again to the disci- 
ples where they were assembled. One came 
and told Jacob and Lucas, “He hath appeared 
unto us again, and Thomas, who had not 
seen him and would not believe until he had 
seen him, was with us. And Thomas, be- 
holding him, cried out, *My Lord and my 
God!’ And he told us many things. Now 
that he has come again, will he not establish 
his kingdom on earth? We go to Galilee, 
where he has promised to meet us on the 
Mount.’’ 

Jacob and Lucas went to Galilee with the 
disciples. And they sent word to the Mas- 
ter’s followers that he would meet them on 
the Moxmt. And while they waited, one 
came to them and said that Jesus had 


339 


340 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 

appeared to certain of the disciples who were 
fishing on the Lake. 

That day there assembled on the Mount 
over five hundred of those that believed on 
him. Lois and Ednah and Julia were there, 
and all of Abda’s household. Gershom from 
Capernaum, with his two sons, and the 
poor widow with her fisher lads. 

While they waited, singing Hosannas, Jesus 
appeared among them. 

“Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ !“ 
the people cried as with one voice, falling 
on their knees. 

Jacob essayed to go forward and throw 
himself at Jesus’s feet, but it was as if he 
had lost the power of motion; he could not 
move hand or foot. However, he set his 
face in the direction whence the voice came, 
and he said in his heart, “Thy will. Lord, be 
done.” 

A ringing cry startled the people, a cry of 
joy. “ My Master! My Master! I see him! ” 

It was Jacob. 


WITNESS FOR HIM! 


341 


After a long, loving look, which Jacob 
never forgot, Jesus turned his gaze upon the 
amazed people. 

'‘All power is given unto me in heaven and 
in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all 
nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost: teaching them to observe all things 
whatsoever I have commanded you.’’ 

And many more precious words Jesus 
spake unto them, but most precious of all 
were his last words before he vanished from 
their sight: “Lo, I am with you alway.” 

Jacob remained in Galilee until Jesus’s 
ascension, and when the disciples came to 
him and told him that they should not see 
Jesus any more he was comforted, for he 
remembered His words, “I am with you 
alway.” Though they could not see him, 
he was with them. 

And Jacob, with the race prejudice and 
the haughty pride all melted out of his heart, 
took his sister Ednah and gave her to Lucas’s 


342 JACOB, A LAD OF NAZARETH 


brother, saying, '‘In the name of the Master 
I give her to thee. In his sight there is no 
Jew nor Gentile, but all men are brethren. 
He looketh not on the outward appearance, 
but on the heart.’* 


A TALE OF THE PONTIAC WAR 

THE WHITE 
CAPTIVE 

By R. CLYDE FORD 

Illustrated by C. L. COLE 

In the year 1760, when Detroit was surrounded by a 
stockade and the Union Jack waved above it, Willy Lang- 
ford, an English boy, is redeemed from Indians by Wa- 
boose, and enters the service of the quartermaster of the 
fort. Separated for years from his mother, herself a cap- 
tive, the object of his life is to learn her whereabouts and 
secure her freedom. As factor’s clerk and frontiersman, 
he experiences many thrilling adventures; he takes part 
in the Indian warfare of the day and is wounded in the 
Battle of Bloody Run, when Pontiac, the famous Ottawa 
chief, engages in his great combat with the English. The 
graphic and accurate descriptions of such tragic events, 
of the life and customs of Indians and early settlers, as 
well as of lake and forest scenery, cannot fail to appeal 
strongly to the imagination of a boy. 

Cloth, 12mo. Net $1.00 


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"a story every AMERICAN BOY SHOULD READ 

THE LAST 

DITCH 

By 

J. RAYMOND ELDERDICE 

Illustrated by 
JAMES McCRACKEN 

Cloth, 12mb. 

Net $1.00 

Carvel Hildreth, the hero of this story, leaves college 
under a cloud, but redeems himself by hard work on the 
Canal, and ultimately returns to Ballard, where he imme- 
diately regains his leadership. It is a fine, spirited, and 
decidedly pointed story, which will make a strong appeal 
to American youths. In it no less than three big ends 
are achieved. The first is patriotism, for a man practically 
without a country is born anew into intense love for the 
United States; second, the book presents a magnificent 
picture of the Canal Zone and its colossal engineering feat 
from the viewpoint of an earnest striver for the honor of 
the States in the successful accomplishment of a mighty 
task; third, it depicts the conversion of a careless, heed- 
less spendthrift of time and money into the ideal of noble 
manhood. 


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THE 

GOODY-NAUGHTY 

BOOK 

By 

SARAH CORY RIPPEY 


Illustrated with sixteen full-page colored pic- 
tures and numerous pen drawings by Blanche 
Fisher Wright. Cloth, square l2mo, 64 pages; 
colored paster and wrapper, 50 cents net* 

A unique plan of procedure has been fol- 
lowed in this popular novelty. The “Goody** 
children hold the first half of the book, then, 
turning the volume upside down and reading 
in the other direction there are eight sparkling 
stories of “Naughty** children, bringing both 
together in the center of the book. So short 
and direct are these sixteen bright little stories 
that they at once take hold and sink deep into 
the child’s consciousness. The little tales are 
charmingly supplemented by Mrs. Wright’s 
pointed and wholly delightful illustrations. 

50 cents Net 


RAND McNALLY & CO. 

CHICAGO NEW YORK 


TME 




COLOR PICTURES BY 

BLANCHE nSHERWRIGHT 






THE CHILDREN’S FAVORITES 


THE MOTHER GOOSE SERIES. Old favorites issued u\ eight 
titles. Three-color wash drawings by Blanche Fisher Wright. 
Richly colored paper covers. Size 10x12. Price 25 cents each 

THE MERMAID’S GIFT. By Julia Brown, author of “The 
Enchanted Peacock." Eight pages in full color by Maginel 
Wright Enright. Colored paster on cover. SizeSvo. Price $1.25 

ROWENA’S HAPPY SUMMER. By Celia Myrover Robinson. 
A sweet, wholesome story of a gifted, generous-hearted little 
Southern girl. With two-colored pictures by Hope Dunlap. 
Size 12mo Price 60 cents net 

A CHRISTMAS PARTY FOR SANTA CLAUS. By Ida M. 

Huntington, author of “Peter Pumpkin in Wonderland," and 
“The Garden of Heart’s Delight." Illustrated in color by 
Thiede. Size 8vo Price 75 cents 

THE STORY TELLER’S BOOK. By Alice 0^ Grady Moulton, of 
the Kindergarten Department, Chicago Teachers College, and 
Frances Throop, of the Pickard School, Chicago. A book for 
mothers. Size 12mo Price 75 cents net 

EDDA AND THE OAK. By Elia Peattie. A twentieth century 
fairy story. Illustrated in colors by Katharine Merrill. Size 
8vo Price 75 cents net 

THE ENCHANTED PEACOCK. By Julia Brown. Real, true 

fairy stories of the most fascinating kind. With black and white 
illustrations and four pictures in color by Lucy Fitch Perkins. 
Size 8vo Price $1.25 


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A Timely Romance 

THE DONS OF THE OLD PUEBLO 

By Percival J, Cooney 

Frontispiece in colors by James Reynolds, Two illustra* 
tions in black and white. Cloth, 8vo, 440 pages, $1,35 net 

This is the only thing in fiction that covers one of the most inter- 
esting periods of American history — the conquest of California. 
The contrast of dispositions and temperaments is finely brought 
out; while a thrilling and well-sustained love romance threads the 
pages and holds the attention until the book is closed. 

“The author has finely depicted the old Spanish settlers, who, as years pass, 'are 
looming up as ancestors in the literature and traditions of the Pacific Coast." — 

North American, Philadelphia 

“This rattling romance has to do with the annexation of California. All the 
scenes are laid in and about Los Angeles and Pasadena, directly in the path of 
tourists who visit them by electric car or automobile." — Columbus Journal, Ohio 

A Charming Book of Travel 

EUROPE FROM A MOTOR CAR 

By Russell Richardson 
Maps and thirty-two artistic illustrations in sepia 
Cloth; 227 pages. Boxed, $1,50 net 

An accoimt of the wanderings of a forty-horse-power car over 
the superb roads of the Tyrol, through the difficult mountain 
passes of the Stelvio and Petit Bernard, by the lovely Italian lakes, 
and across the snow-covered Alps. Exquisitely reproduced photo- 
graphs adorn a charmingly written narrative. 

“Americans can get all the pleasures of foreign travel with none of its discom- 
forts in time of war by perusing this very ably written and entertaining book." 

— Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer 

“It is descriptive, graphic, interesting.” — Oregonian 

“Simply written but charming, glimpsing vast numbers of lovely scenes and 
places, rich alike in picturesque fact and fancy.” — Chicago Herald 

“Mr. Richardson has written of so many things that are not to be found in 
any tourist guide book— just a delightful story of the unique, lovely things and 
places seen on his rambles, the small towns and out-of-the-way villages, the sub- 
lime beauty and grandeur of the Alps, the lovely Italian lakes, the picturesque 
valleys. Everything the lover of scenery longs for was enjoyed to the fullest ex- 
tent in this motor ramble. His impressions make a charming book; his style aim 
manner of treating the subject make it a real joy.— Raleigh Ttmes, Raleigh, N.C, 


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BY THE AUTHOR OF 

"Amarilly, of Clothes-Line Alley” 

BELLE K. MANIATES 


DAVID 

DUNNE 



Pictures 

By 

JOHN 

DREW 


This fine book is bound to appeal to the 
average lad. By pluck, determination, and 
hard work David rises from farmhand to 
Governor. He makes just such a courageous 
fight as many a boy has ahead of him; and his 
success will prove inspiring to a young reader. 
A charming love story, too, with touches of 
genuine and exquisite pathos, it is one of 
Miss Maniates' best productions and worth 
a place in any library. 

75 CENTS NET 


RAND McNally & CO. 

CHICAGO NEW YORK 













